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Offshore rumblings in Canada's most active earthquake zone went virtually unnoticed by local residents on Wednesday.

4.7-magnitude earthquake detected off Vancouver coast


Katie Jones
Digital Reporter

Thursday, July 30, 2015, 7:40 AM - A minor earthquake off the northern coast of Vancouver Island went virtually unnoticed by local residents on Wednesday afternoon.

The 4.7-magnitude quake originated about 175 kilometres west of Port Hardy, British Columbia around 5:30 p.m.

Despite the strength of the quake, because it occurred offshore and about 20 kilometres beneath the Pacific Ocean floor, the vibrations would have been too subtle to be felt on land.


RELATED: Magnitude 3.4 earthquake strikes B.C. coast, felt in Sechelt and Nanaimo


There have been no reports of damage, according to Natural Resources Canada.

Southwestern British Columbia is one of the most seismically active regions in Canada. Approximately 400 earthquakes occur each year in the region, extending from the north end of Vancouver Island to Seattle, Washington in the United States.

Although about a dozen of these earthquakes are felt by people, many of the larger earthquakes occur offshore, such as the one that struck on Wednesday.

Southwestern British Columbia is located above the boundary between the oceanic Juan de Fuca Plate and the continental North American Plate. This boundary, the Cascadia Subduction Zone, spans 1000 km from northern Vancouver Island to northern California.

Source: National Resources Canada

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