| Title | Earthquake waves: large earthquakes on the Atlantic coast? Yes - Newfoundland, 1929 |
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| Author | Cassidy, J |
| Source | Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering Newsletter vol. 6, issue 4, 2021 p. 2-3  Open Access |
| Links | Online - En ligne (complete volume - volume
complet, 209 KB)
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| Links | The Tsunami of 1929
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| Year | 2021 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20210464 |
| Publisher | Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | digital; on-line |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Eastern offshore region; Newfoundland and Labrador; Nova Scotia; New Brunswick; Prince Edward Island; Quebec; Ontario |
| NTS | 1; 2; 10; 11; 12; 20; 21; 22; 30N; 31B; 31C; 31F; 31G; 31H; 31I; 31J; 31K; 31N; 31O; 31P; 32A; 32B; 32H |
| Area | Island of Newfoundland; Grand Banks of Newfoundland; Atlantic Ocean; Canada; United States of America |
| Lat/Long WENS | -77.0000 -50.0000 52.0000 39.0000 |
| Subjects | geophysics; tectonics; marine geology; Science and Technology; Nature and Environment; Health and Safety; earthquakes; earthquake magnitudes; earthquake damage; tsunami; landslides; slumps; history;
seismology; seismic data; aftershocks; continental margins; continental shelf; continental slope; coastal environment; models; 1929 M7.2 Grand Banks Earthquake; Laurentian Slope; Infrastructures; Communications equipment; Buildings; Death
rate |
| Illustrations | geoscientific sketch maps |
| Program | Public Safety Geoscience Assessing Earthquake Geohazards |
| Released | 2021 10 01 |
| Abstract | (unpublished)
Canada has remained quiet in terms of significant earthquakes during the past few months. As a result, this column will again highlight a significant historic Canadian earthquake
- this one along the Atlantic coast. At 5:02 p.m. (Newfoundland time) on November 18, 1929, a M7.2 earthquake occurred approximately 250 km south of Newfoundland along the southern edge of the Grand Banks. This earthquake was felt as far away as New
York and Ottawa (both ~1500 km distant). A number of chimneys were damaged or destroyed on Cape Breton Island (~350 km distant), items were knocked from shelves and some highways were blocked by minor landslides. A few aftershocks (some as large as
magnitude 6) were felt in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland but caused no damage. The most significant and deadly impact of this earthquake was the triggering of a large submarine slump (an estimated volume of 200 cubic kilometres of material was moved on
the Laurentian slope) which ruptured 12 transatlantic cables in multiple places and generated a large tsunami. Southern Newfoundland (especially the Burin Peninsula) bore the brunt of the tsunami, some homes were washed out to sea and 28 people were
killed. Run-up heights of 13+ m were observed in some Newfoundland communities (details at: https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/tsunami-1929.php). The tsunami was recorded along the eastern seaboard as far south as South Carolina, and across
the Atlantic in Portugal. Some minor tsunami damage was reported in Bermuda. This earthquake serves as another reminder that rare, damaging earthquakes strike even in those parts of Canada that we don't generally associate with earthquakes (like the
Atlantic coast). It is also a reminder of the 'secondary effects' of earthquakes - it is not just ground shaking that causes damage, but tsunami impacts, liquefaction, landslides, and more. Lessons learned from rare earthquakes such as this one have
been incorporated into our seismic hazard models and National Building codes - but we still have much to learn. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This newsletter column summarizes the 1929 M7.2 offshore Newfound earthquake and tsunami. This is a reminder for the engineering community of large
damaging earthquakes in areas of Canada that don't often experience earthquakes. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 329316 |
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