Minor 3.3 Magnitude Rare Quake Yesterday in Saskatchewan Prairies!

People in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba may have felt the earth moving early Wednesday.
A mild earthquake, centred around Esterhazy, Sask., rumbled through the area at around 2:26 a.m. CT.
The quake measured 3.3 on the Richter scale, according to Andrew Frederiksen, a seismologist at the University of Manitoba.'A 3.3 is big enough to feel if you're close to the epicentre; it's not big enough to do damage.'—Andrew Frederiksen .
However, it was big enough to be felt in southwestern Manitoba, he said.
While earthquakes in Manitoba are rare, in southeast Saskatchewan there are about five a year, he said.
Part of the reason is potash mining. Several potash mines are in the Esterhazy area, which is about 225 kilometres northeast of Regina.

CBC News
Regina Leader-Post

There is alot of mining around these regions so I believe it was caused by those mines and not tectonic plates. It is very strange an earthquake would happen here in the prairies. Since I've been alive I haven't heard about earthquakes in this Province. Just thought I' d shed some light on this and share it with you!

You beat me to it by 3 minutes--
here's the link I found--

www.winnipegfreepress.com...

He said he wasn't too concerned because the area gets hit about once a year because of the nearby mine.

Really??! So mining is obviously associated with earthquakes... and SK has sounds in the sky - in fact they're on right now.
Glad I saved myself some embarrassment by double checking before posting.

“It could have been an earthquake or it could have been a mining-induced earthquake,” said Woodgold. “It’s in an area where there is not a lot of earthquakes, but where there is a lot of mining activity.”

I didn't know this was possible and to be honest was going to make some snide remarks before reading the articles. I probably make a 3.3 every time I eat Taco Bell but I actually appreciate this earthquake thread for informing me that mining can register. I usually scoff/hate earthquake threads if it's under a 6.

Originally posted by TgP3o6


There is alot of mining around these regions so I believe it was caused by those mines and not tectonic plates.

I would have to agree. I grew up in a northern ontario mining town. We were on bedrock, but there were a couple of earthquakes that happened, even though we werent on any fault line.

Of course the earthquakes were indistinguishable from the daily underground blasting, so who knows how many actually happened.

It wasnt a aftershock? 3.3 is pretty weak, i felt some rumblings around those size from aftershocks due to quakes up north or wherever..... innnnnnnnteresting....

reply to post by dayve


Pretty weak yes... but to an area that NEVER gets earthquakes, I think its significant.

Originally posted by ItsEvolutionBaby
You beat me to it by 3 minutes--

Haha sorry dude! I guess we were on the same page. I heard about it early yesterday but forgot to post it. I just remembered and did it on SGS2 Droid lol. So u almost beat me

Originally posted by Domo1

I didn't know this was possible and to be honest was going to make some snide remarks before reading the articles. I probably make a 3.3 every time I eat Taco Bell but I actually appreciate this earthquake thread for informing me that mining can register. I usually scoff/hate earthquake threads if it's under a 6.

Yeah i agree with the Taco Bell remark even thoough we don't have one here in Regina...just Taco Time. This proves mini.g to cause earthquakes a bit. I wonder if Fracking will cause an earthquake anytime soon.

Originally posted by TgP3o6

Originally posted by ItsEvolutionBaby
You beat me to it by 3 minutes--

Haha sorry dude! I guess we were on the same page. I heard about it early yesterday but forgot to post it. I just remembered and did it on SGS2 Droid lol. So u almost beat me

Funny too, cause I heard about it early yesterday as well - heard it made the morning news, but not the news at noon. If thats true, it reminds me of the old cnn trick- get the "goodstuff" out once, in the a.m.
It even got a little write up in today's Star Phoenix.

Just gotta ask - are you hearing any sounds in your skies? Don't mean to re-hash the sounds thing, but its the first time we've heard these types of sounds in the sky (jet-sounding no trumpets I swear), and its hardly ever that you hear of earthquakes in SK, especially ones where the media reports its caused by mining. Cause you look at all the mining going on, and more in the works. Just an observation. And you?

No I haven't heard any sounds in the skys yet except noises on planes, trains and construction machines. I'll post a video if i catch any weird activity if i hear it