Investigating structure, hazards and seismicity on the Queen Charlotte Fault
The Queen Charlotte Fault
The Queen Charlotte fault, often called the ‘San Andreas of the North,’ is a strike-slip plate boundary that separates the Pacific and North American tectonic plates offshore western Canada and Southeast Alaska. It is arguably the most active fault of its type in the world: the entire ~900 km offshore length has ruptured in seven earthquakes with magnitude larger than 7 during the last century and it sustains the highest known deformation rates (more than 50 mm per year).
The fault system represents the largest seismic hazard to southeastern Alaska and Canada outside of Cascadia, and caused Canada’s largest recorded earthquake (M8.1) in 1949. Characterizing this plate boundary at depth on a regional scale will lead to an improved understanding of this, and other major strike-slip fault systems, for better hazard assessment and earthquake forecasting.
Study Area
Map of the Queen Charlotte fault in the region of focus for this experiment. The fault accomodates > 50mm/year of plate boundary slip between the Pacific and North American plates.
Yellow dots show individual small-magnitude earthquakes and include aftershocks of the most recent Haida Gwaii (M7.8, 2012) and Craig (M7.5, 2013) events. Yellow stars show the estimated epicenter of these and several other historical magnitude 7 and above earthquakes that have been generated on the fault in the last hundred years.
Societal Benefits
Because of the high seismic hazard, the Queen Charlotte Fault is of great national interest and growing public awareness in both the United States and Canada. Based on new seismic images of the offshore subsurface architecture of the Queen Charlotte Fault, our proposed study would provide a framework for interpreting the existing observations made during the last decades by federal and state agencies, universities, and research centers. This framework is critically needed for improving earthquake and tsunami hazard assessments across the Pacific Northwest, which affects mitigation and response planning.
Environmental Impact Mitigation
The proposed research would be conducted in accordance with U.S. and international regulatory requirements.