Another earthquake felt in the Fort St. John region
4 quakes of magnitude 3.1 or higher were detected in a single week in February
Earthquakes Canada reported a 4.4 magnitude quake in the Fort St. John area on Wednesday morning.
It occurred about 74 kilometres northwest of the city just before 11:30 a.m. PT at a depth of five kilometres and was "lightly felt," according to the earthquake database. No damage was reported.
It's the latest in a series of minor earthquakes that have struck northeastern B.C. this year, after four quakes of magnitude 3.1 or higher were detected in a single week in February.
The quakes are "suspected industry-related" events, according to Natural Resources Canada — in other words, related to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the area.
In this case, the B.C. Energy Regulator (BCER) has linked the quake to fracking in the Wonowon area.
Fracking is a process that blasts water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure more than two kilometres underground to release natural gas trapped in rock formations.
"Earthquakes can be induced by ... mining, by oil and gas extraction," Natural Resources Canada earthquake seismologist John Cassidy said in a February interview.
Earlier this year, the BCER announced it had begun tracking all seismic events of magnitude 1.5 or higher to further understand the links between industrial activity and earthquakes.
So far, it shows a seismic event nearly every day this year, though the vast majority were not felt.
Anyone who felt the latest quake is encouraged to report it online.
With files from Hanna Petersen and Betsy Trumpener