Earthquake a case study for professors

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By Paul Mayne
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
A 5.0 magnitude earthquake that hit a large portion of Ontario this afternoon, including here at The University of Western Ontario, will act as a great case study for Earth Sciences professors Kristy Tiampo and Gail Atkinson.
 
Atkinson (Canada Research Chair in Earthquake Hazards and Ground Motions) and Tiampo (NSERC and Benfield/ICLR Industrial Research Chair in Earthquake Hazard Assessment) are part of a nation-wide study looking at seismic hazards and, along with students, recently completed a number of studies in the Ottawa area.
 
 
Western Earth Sciences professors Kristy Tiampo and Gail Atkinson are joined by a number of students as they look over data from the 5.5 magnitude earthquake that hit southwestern Ontario earlier this afternoon.  Photos by Mitch Zimmer


 
“This is a great case study for us to really ground truth a lot of what we thought would happen,” says Tiampo, thankful there were no injuries reported from the earthquake.
  
“We have spent a lot of time and energy on this. We have students here looking at scenario earthquakes and what will happen if particular kinds of earthquakes happen in Ottawa. So that is really good for us.”
 
The 10-15 second earthquake was felt in areas stretching from as Ottawa and Quebec into the U.S. states of Ohio and Michigan. According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake began at 1:41 p.m. and was centred was centered 33 miles northeast of Ottawa near Buckingham, Quebec.
 
Tiampo says an earthquake of this magnitude may cause brick cracking, falling bricks or cracks in walls, and only in areas near the epicentre. As far as who did or didn’t feel the earthquake, she says it depends on the structure an individual would be in and the soil the building was built on.
 
“My sister lives in Detroit and she didn’t feel it, but apparently some people in Michigan have,” says Tiampo.  
 
While southwestern Ontario has had its share of minor tremors over the years, Tiampo says this large of a magnitude earthquake is uncommon. The most recent one she can recall was a 5.2 magnitude eaerthquake in 2002 centred in Northern Vermont.

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