Abstract
The Timiskaming earthquake, which occurred near the Quebec-Ontario border at the northwest end of the Western Quebec seismic zone in 1935, is one of the five largest instrumentally recorded southeastern Canadian earthquakes. Previous studies of this earthquake concentrated on modeling teismograms recorded at regional distances, a better constrained focal mechanism is obtained. The waveforms indicate thrust faulting on a moderately dipping northwest striking plane at a depth of 10 km. TheM w of 6.1 determined in this study is in good agreement with previous magnitude estimates (m b 6.1,M s 6.0, andm bLg 6.2–6.3). The focal mechanism is similar to those of many recent small to moderate earthquakes in the region, and the inferred (from theP axis) acting stress of northeast compression is consistent with the overall eastern North American stress field. The “Lake Timiskaming Rift Valley” in which the earthquake occurred, comprises several northwest striking faults consistent with the strike of the 1935 event. Thus, the 1935 earthquake appears to be a result of faulting on the reactivated Timiskaming graben.
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Bent, A.L. Am improved source mechanism for the 1935 Timiskaming, Quebec earthquake from regional waveforms. PAGEOPH 146, 5–20 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00876667
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00876667