What caused the Haida Gwaii earthquake?

The earthquake had a pure strike-slip focal mechanism, consistent with a rupture along the Queen Charlotte Fault. This earthquake is not considered an aftershock, but was triggered by stress transfer caused by the October 2012 earthquake.

How deep is the Queen Charlotte Fault?

The second quake, just 200 miles to the north, generated a magnitude 7.5 event offshore of Craig, Alaska, rupturing a 70-mile long stretch of the fault. The fault has been difficult to study because it is located almost entirely offshore in water depths of greater than 500 feet.

How big is the Queen Charlotte Fault?

900 kilometers long
The Queen Charlotte Fault is nearly 900 kilometers long and marks the tectonic boundary between the Pacific and North American plates.

How was the Queen Charlotte fault made?

Through geologic time, a change in pacific plate motion beginning as recently as approximately 6 Ma or as early as approximately 12 Ma caused an increase in convergence along the entire length of the fault and initiated underthrusting along the southern segment where convergence is highest, a process that ultimately …

What makes the Queen Charlotte fault a transform fault?

The Queen Charlotte Fault (QCF) forms a transpressional plate boundary, and is as active as other major transform fault systems (i.e. San Andreas, Alpine) in terms of slip rates and seismogenic potential. The fault is named for the Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii) which lie just north of the triple junction.

What makes the Queen Charlotte Fault a transform fault?

What kind of plate boundary is the Queen Charlotte Fault?

transform fault boundary
Since about 42 Ma the Queen Charlotte margin has been the primarily right-lateral transform fault boundary between the Pacific and America plates.

Who discovered the Queen Charlotte Fault?

In 2015, USGS scientists from the Pacific Coast Marine Science Center and the Alaska Science Center began collaborating with scientists from other institutions to study the offshore portion of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault in U.S. waters—the first systematic effort in more than three decades.