1933 Baffin Bay earthquake

Earthquake that struck Greenland and the Northwest Territories (now Nunavut), Canada 1933 Baffin Bay earthquake Canada#Canada Baffin Island 1933-11-20 23:21:35 905919 iscgem905919 1933 11 20 18:21:35 Eastern Time Zone w 7.4 y, s 7.3 y, b 7.2±0.3 yBent 2002 731 10-15 km mi 0 onBent 2002 724 73.07 -70.01 region:CA_type:event inline,titleBent 2002 Strike-slip and thrustBent 2002 729 Canada, Greenland IVLamontagne Bent 2021 2828 The 1933 Baffin Bay earthquake struck Greenland and the Northwest Territories (now Nunavut), Canada with a moment magnitude of 7.4 at 18:21:35 Eastern Time Zone 23:21:35 UTC on November 20, 1933. Depth is estimated at 10-65 km on and the maximum felt intensity is estimated at IV (Light). The main shock epicenter was located in Baffin Bay on the east coast of Baffin Island. Shaking was only felt at the small towns of Upernavik, Greenland and Clyde River, Nunavut. The event is the largest recorded earthquake to strike the passive margin of North America and is the largest north of the Arctic Circle. It is also one of the largest intraplate earthquakes of all time. No damage was reported because of its offshore location and the small population of the nearby communities. Tectonic setting Canada is not typically associated with seismic activity, however, Canada does experience infrequent large earthquakes. At the location of the earthquake, there is an extinct spreading center which formed the Baffin Bay itself.Lamontagne Bent 2021 2824 That rift separated Baffin Bay from Greenland by up to 200 km on.Basham Forsyth Wetmiller 1977 1664 As this region is not at the boundary of a plate, earthquakes occurring here are considered intraplate.Bent 2002 733 As the spreading center created zones of weakness, this passive margin occasionally reactivates in a strike-slip manner, likely including a destructive event in the 1860s that took out an Inuit hunting party.Bent 2002 724Qamar 1974 89Ruffman Murty 2006 Due to the seismic activity in the Baffin Bay area, seismic hazard maps have the area at level 4 out of 5 in the onshore area nearest to the seismicity, with the nearest inhabited area being in a level 3 area.Lamontagne Bent 2021 2832 Despite being primarily strike-slip, the seismic events in this region can pose a risk of tsunami.Ruffman Murty 2006 Earthquake The w 7.4 earthquake struck offshore Baffin Island in the Baffin Bay at 18:21:35 Eastern Time Zone 23:21:35 UTC on November 20, 1933. It had a hypocentral depth of 10-15 km on,Bent 2002 724 and a maximum felt intensity of IV (Light).Lamontagne Bent 2021 2828 The earthquake was not widely felt, with reports of shaking initially only coming from Upernavik, Greenland, some 330 km on away.Normandeau Jenner Desiage De Moura Neves 2025 1056 Records from the Hudson Bay Company recorded shaking felt at Clyde River, Nunavut, but these were only accessed years after the shock. There was no reported damage from the earthquake due to the epicenter location's remoteness and low population of nearby communities.Lamontagne Bent 2021 2828 This earthquake is one of the largest known intraplate earthquakes ever recorded, and is the largest both north of the Arctic Circle and along the North American passive margin.Stein Sleep Geller Wang 1979 539Bent 2002 724 Rupture complexity The earthquake's rupture was complex, requiring multiple sub-events to fit recorded waveforms. The rupture scenario with the best fit had 3 distinct sub-events. Rupture nucleated along a strike-slip fault, which had the highest moment (~w 7.3) of any of the sub-events. 10.5 seconds after the earthquake begins, a thrusting sub-event begins (~w 6.9), with the final sub-event (~w 7.0), also with a thrust mechanism, starting 21.5 seconds after the initial nucleation.Bent 2002 729, 731 Aftershocks In the years after the earthquake struck, there have been many aftershocks. The 4 largest struck within the next couple decades. There was a gr 6.5 earthquake a year after the mainshock, a couple earthquakes (gr 6.5 & gr 6.0) in the mid 1940s, and a final large (gr 6.4) aftershock in 1957.Qamar 1974 89 Seismic activity continues in the area, with multiple magnitude 5 earthquakes since.Fujita Cook Hasegawa Forsyth 1990 93 See also List of earthquakes in 1933 List of earthquakes in Canada References OB 905919 The 1933 Baffin Bay earthquake http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/historic-historique/events/19331120-eng.php NRC 2013 Natural Resources Canada Sources Basham P. W. Forsyth D. A. Wetmiller R. J. The seismicity of northern Canada Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 1 July 1977 14 7 1646–1667 10.1139/e77-140 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/e77-140 10 April 2026 The 1933 Ms= 7.3 Baffin Bay earthquake: strike-slip faulting along the northeastern Canadian passive margin http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/historic-historique/events/ABent2002baffinbay1933.pdf Allison L. Bent 2002 Geophysical Journal International Wiley 150 3 724–736 10.1046/j.1365-246X.2002.01722.x 2002GeoJI.150..724B free Fujita K. Cook D. Hasegawa Henry S. Forsyth D. A. Wetmiller R. J. Grantz A. Johnson GL Sweeney JF The Arctic ocean region Seismicity and focal mechanisms of the Arctic region and North American plate boundary in Asia The Geology of North America L Geological Society of America Boulder 1990 77–100 Lamontagne Maurice Bent Allison L. Earthquakes in the Eastern Canadian Arctic: Past Occurrences, Present Hazard, and Future Risk Seismological Research Letters May 5, 2021 92 5 2824-2837 10.1785/0220210014 https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/article/92/5/2824/596665/Earthquakes-in-the-Eastern-Canadian-Arctic-Past 8 April 2026 subscription Normandeau Alexandre Jenner Kimberley A. Desiage Pierre-Arnaud De Moura Neves Barbara Edinger Evan Van Nieuwenhove Nicolas Limoges Audrey Cote David Sherwood Owen A. Holocene earthquake-triggered submarine landslides and turbidites in western Baffin Bay Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 1 May 2025 62 5 1043–1061 10.1139/cjes-2024-0068 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/cjes-2024-0068 10 April 2026 free Qamar Anthony Seismicity of the Baffin Bay region Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America February 1974 64 1 87-98 10.1785/BSSA0640010087 https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/bssa/article/64/1/87/101743/Seismicity-of-the-Baffin-Bay-region 8 April 2026 subscription Tsunami hazards in the Arctic regions of North America, Greenland and the Norwegian Sea International Tsunami Society Third Tsunami Symposium Ruffman Alan Murty Tad 23 May 2006 Honolulu, Hawaii Stein Seth Sleep Norman H. Geller Robert J. Wang Shi-Chen Earthquakes along the passive margin of eastern Canada Geophysical Research Letters July 1979 6 7 537-540 10.1029/GL006i007p00537 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/GL006i007p00537 8 April 2026 subscription External links 905919 Category:Earthquakes in Canada Category:Natural disasters in Nunavut Category:Natural history of Nunavut Category:Earthquakes in North America Category:Natural disasters in Greenland Category:1933 earthquakes Category:1933 disasters in Canada Category:November 1933 in Canada Category:1930s disasters in Denmark