Did you feel the earth move?
Strong earthquake hits Baffin Bay July 7
An earthquake jolted Nunavut and Greenland July 7, shaking the High Arctic region at about 2 p.m that day.
The earthquake’s epicenter was located in Baffin Bay, about 320 km southeast of Grise Fiord, says the United States Geological Survey’s Earthquake Hazards Program.
The earthquake registered 6.1 on the Richter scale, which used to measure the intensity of earthquakes.
People don’t usually notice earthquakes that rank a 2.5 or lower on the Richter scale, although a quake that is a 7.5 or higher can hurl people to the ground, shake buildings apart, set off landslides and trigger giant tidal waves.
On Nov. 20, 1933, a monster earthquake ripped through the floor of Baffin Bay, not far offshore from Pond Inlet. Seismologists believe its magnitude measured 7.3 on the Richter scale.
Data gathered by the Geological Survey of Canada shows the northeast coast of Baffin Island and the High Arctic islands have a particularly high incidence of earthquakes.
Over the past 80 years, about 2,000 earthquakes have been recorded in Nunavut. Over the past 10 years, there have been on the average about 40 earthquakes per year in the territory.
July 7’s earthquake also shook northwestern Greenland, but caused no injuries or damage there.
The earthquake was one of the strongest recorded to date in Greenland, according to the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.

This map from the U.S. Geological Survey shows the location of the earthquake that shook Baffin Bay July 7. (WEB IMAGE HARVESTED FROM EARTHQUAKE.USGS.GOV)
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