2,000 quakes rock a spot on Canada coast, cause ocean floor to 'rip apart': scientists

Nearly 2,000 earthquakes hit a spot off the coast of Canada in a singleday, which as per scientists was a hint that new oceanic crust is likely to be created through deep sea magmatic rupture.

These earthquakes are not a serious threat to people and are comparatively small and centred on a spot known as the Endeavour site, which is 150 miles off the coast of Vancouver Island.

This specific spot has various hydrothermal vents and is present on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. At this place, the ocean floor also spread apart.

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Doctoral candidate in marine geophysics at the University of Washington Zoe Krauss said that the area is not part of the subduction zone, which is a region where one tectonic plate has been sinking into the mantle below another plate.

"Mid-ocean ridges aren't actually capable of producing that large of earthquakes, not too far above a magnitude five. This is not going to trigger 'the big one' on the subduction zone," said Krauss, while speaking to Live Science.

Scientifically, the earthquakes have been interesting since they can reveal details regarding ways in which the ocean floor pulls apart and the new crust gets formed, said Krauss.

Juan de Fuca plate and the Pacific platepulling apart at site

The Juan de Fuca plate and the Pacific plate have been pulling apart at the endeavour site, as per the scientists.

This pulling apart leads to the formation of long, linear fault lines on the Earth's crust and also thins it which allows magma to rise up. After the magma reaches the surface, it slowly cools and hardens and a new ocean crust is formed.

The Endeavour site is continuously monitored under the North-East Pacific Time-series Undersea Networked Experiments (NEPTUNE) which is run by Ocean Networks Canada.

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From 2018, the region has remained more seismically active, said Krauss. However, on March 6, the activity escalated as at least 200 small earthquakes rocked the seafloor every hour. The researchers detected a total of nearly 1,850 quakes in one day.

"The vast majority are less than magnitude one. They’re these little pops. But it’s pretty cool because it allows us to track where things are happening, where things are breaking and where things are moving around," Krauss said.

He added that the quakes most likely occurred because the seafloor was stretched to its maximum extent and a great amount of stress was built-up.

(With inputs from agencies)