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Moderate mag. 4.5 earthquake - 42 km east of Peace River, Alberta, Canada, on Thursday, Mar 16, 2023 at 8:46 am (GMT -6) -

Moderate mag. 4.5 earthquake - 42 km east of Peace River, Alberta, Canada, on Thursday, Mar 16, 2023 at 8:46 am (GMT -6) Moderate mag. 4.5 earthquake - 42 km east of Peace River, Alberta, Canada, on Thursday, Mar 16, 2023 at 8:46 am (GMT -6)

Moderate magnitude 4.5 earthquake at 6 km depth

16 Mar 14:48 UTC: First to report: VolcanoDiscovery after 2 minutes.
16 Mar 14:54: Now using data updates from GFZ
... [show all] ...
16 Mar 21:31: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 5.0 to 6.0 km (from 3.1 to 3.7 mi).
Update Thu, 16 Mar 2023, 15:09

Moderate earthquake of magnitude 4.8 just reported 36 miles east of Peace River, Alberta, Canada

4.8 quake 16 Mar 8:46 am (GMT -6)
4.8 quake 16 Mar 8:46 am (GMT -6)
An earthquake of magnitude 4.8 occurred only 23 minutes ago 36 miles east of Peace River, Alberta, Canada, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) reported.
The quake hit at a shallow depth of 6.2 miles beneath the epicenter near Peace River, Alberta, Canada, in the morning on Thursday, March 16th, 2023, at 8:46 am local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
A second report was later issued by the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake, which listed it as a magnitude 4.8 earthquake as well.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in St. Isidore (pop. 220) located 28 miles from the epicenter, Peace River (pop. 5,300) 36 miles away, Falher (pop. 1,200) 43 miles away, and High Prairie (pop. 2,900) 49 miles away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.

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Earthquake details

Date & timeMar 16, 2023 14:46:18 UTC -
Local time at epicenterThursday, Mar 16, 2023 at 8:46 am (GMT -6)
StatusConfirmed
Magnitude4.5
Depth6.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude56.1093°N / 116.658°W (Alberta, Canada)
Antipode56.109°S / 63.342°E
Shaking intensityLight shaking
Felt544 reports
Primary data sourceNRCAN (Department of Natural Resources Canada)
Nearby towns and cities29 km (18 mi) ESE of St. Isidore (Alberta) (pop: 218) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
42 km (26 mi) ESE of Peace River (Alberta) (pop: 5,340) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
54 km (33 mi) NE of Falher (Alberta) (pop: 1,170) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
76 km (47 mi) N of High Prairie (Alberta) (pop: 2,880) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
171 km (106 mi) NE of Grande Prairie (Alberta) (pop: 41,500) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
260 km (162 mi) E of Fort St. John (British Columbia) (pop: 17,400) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
336 km (209 mi) NW of St. Albert (Alberta) (pop: 57,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
350 km (218 mi) NW of Edmonton (Alberta) (pop: 712,400) | Show on map | Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quakeOvercast Clouds -15.2°C (5 F), humidity: 96%, wind: 2 m/s (5 kts) from SW
Estimated seismic energy released3.5 x 1011 joules (98.6 megawatt hours, equivalent to 84.8 tons of TNT) | about seismic energy
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Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies

Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag.DepthLocationSource
4.56 kmCanada: 24 Km NE of Reno, ABNRCAN
4.89.8 kmAlberta, CanadaRaspberryShake
4.810 kmALBERTA, CANADAEMSC
4.610 kmAlberta, CanadaGFZ
4.89.8 km44 Km ESE of Peace River, CanadaUSGS
4.810 kmAlberta, CanadaIRIS

Seismograms

Seismic station: Newport, Washington, USA (NEW/US network) | Distance from quake: 873 km / 542 mi | Show on map | Station Info
Seismic station Newport, Washington, USA: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)
Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.2-5.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool
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User reports for this quake (555)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
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32 km of Peace River, Alberta (11 km W of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Came on light, you could hear is, rolled through enough to move the ceiling fan, and you could hear it for almost 10 seconds very lightly | 4 users found this interesting. (reported through our app)  
Slave Lake, AB (149.9 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Floor shaking, windows rattling, walls shaking pictures, wall swinging. Felt like a snowplow driving beside me, but I was in living room | 3 users found this interesting.  
34 km of High Prairie, Alberta (99 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short : I heard it at first then my home started to lightly shake. I have been in several earthquakes so I immediately knew what it was. | 2 users found this interesting.  
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (349.3 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : I was working in our loft office (A-frame old house) and distinctly felt swaying for about 5 seconds. | 2 users found this interesting.  
Edmonton / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short : I live on the 27 floor of a condo building in downtown Edmonton. My couch shook and lamps were shaking. Very freaky. | 2 users found this interesting.  
  • I think I would move to a lower floor... ????
Watino, Ab (77.9 km WSW of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : My husband was in the kitchen and I was texting on my bed. I thought it was a gust of strong wind because the tin on our roof was making noises. Bed started to shake and sounded like heavy equipment was going by our house while all the rattling and vibration was happening. | One user found this interesting.  
Edmonton, Alberta (349.4 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : The bed was shaking, and the floor boards were creaking. It may have been both horizontal and vertical shaking. | One user found this interesting.  
Barrhead, Alberta (263 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 2-5 s : My bed would shake slightly going east to west, like someone was shaking the footboard. Once around 8:48am and again at about 9am | One user found this interesting.  
Edmonton, (357.7 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : My apartment building shook,creaked and cracked like there was a violent wind outside but the weather was calm. The sofa I was sitting on shook and vibrated for a solid 30 seconds. | One user found this interesting.  
High Prairie, Alberta (74.6 km S of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s : It felt like the ground rolled, my items in my home shook, the water in my fish tank had waves, the trees outside were moving, could hear it getting closer. | One user found this interesting.  
Fort (328.9 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Upper floor of home, working stationary at desk. Felt the weak shaking in my body, noticed slight movement of computer monitors, and movement of liquid in my mug. Asked partner if they felt it, but they were moving around and did not notice anything.  
St Albert (333.4 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / complex motion difficult to describe / 1-2 minutes : 8:47am Sitting on couch, building shaking, plants moving - then about half hour longer saw plants started to move and sway/shake again  
Dawson creek (209 km W of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I was in the bathroom, house was silent and then the house started to shake, light fixtures rattled and felt very bumpy for a minute  
Bitumount (327 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Laying in bed in my camp room on the third floor. Bed was shaking and rocking me back and forth. Felt like a train came beside the camp  
Edmonton alberta (342.4 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Laying in bed. Third floor walk up apartment . Felt light shaking of the bed at 8:48 AM and then very light shaking again about 9 AM  
DeBolt Alberta Canada (121.7 km SW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Sitting in living room.House creaked and TV vibrating++. Chair shook. Felt earlier quake about 10 prior to this one. Front door creaked and very light vibration. From previous earthquake in November 22 crack in gyprock on new ceiling. No further cracking to ceiling noted this am as of yet.  
County of northern lights, al (78.4 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Felt like windows were going to fall out. Light fixtures swaying, bed rattling. It was mire intense than the earthquake in the fall. I felt the one at 9 also and a slight after rumble around 9:10  
Grande Prairie AB Canada (478.1 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s : Sitting down having coffee and the floor started shaking then the walls were shaking. Items on my desk were shaking!  
Whitecourt (228.9 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 1-2 s : I was lying in bed about to go to sleep when I felt a rattle in my chest, I look up to see the walls and pictures shaking. There was two rumbles about 5 minutes apart. No damages and nothing fell  
Spruce grove, ab (316.4 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Was woken up by it, felt like it was moving the bed back and forth. Bed is solid wood and not easily displaced.  
Slave lake (149.3 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 30-60 s : Entire house shaking and small items shaking off shelves. Lasted 45 seconds approximately then about 15 minutes later another tremor lasting 20 seconds.  
Edmonton Alberta (348.9 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I was sitting in my poang chair, you know, those slightly bouncy ones from IKEA? And I was very lightly bounced side to side for a few seconds. If I hadn’t been sitting perfectly still in a bouncy chair I wouldn’t have noticed it.  
near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta (336.8 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : Felt the ground shake a bit. Facebook pages im a part of are reporting people from fort saskatchewan all the way up to swan hills and slave lake felt it.  
Spruce Grove, AB (334.2 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : my couch shook , and was on the phone with coworker who lives 5 mins from me and she left it just after me  
Fort McMurray, Alberta (329.5 km ENE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Very light shaking, not felt on main floor of house, felt on upper floor. Made stuff on walls rattle.  
Swan hills AB. (175.7 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Felt the chair shaking and the Computer monitors in the office started shaking. Felt it again at 9:03am local time  
St. Albert - Oakmont neighbourhood (334.9 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : I felt very weak shaking for about 5-10 seconds on the second floor of my home. I was very still and quiet at the time, which is why I noticed it. Family members on the main floor of our home did not notice it as it was very subtle. I recognized the sensation as I felt these before when I was in the Vancouver area.  
Edmonton Alberta (349.5 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Sitting on couch and felt sudden swaying, both animals were woken up and were swaying in their position on top of the couch  
Edmonton (360 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I was resting on my bed in my third floor condo and I felt the room shake and the walls creaked a bit and the stove range rattled  
St. Albert (337.7 km SE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Fast rocking back and forth for about 3 seconds, a quick pause and one more movement with a deep rumble  
High Level (269.1 km N of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : I was sitting on the couch and suddenly the couch started vibrating as if I'm driving on a gravel road  
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