Estimating Euler pole parameters for eastern Canada using GPS velocities

Abstract

Eastern Canada is characterized by many intraplate earthquakes mostly concentrated along the Saint Lawrence River and Ottawa River valleys. After the rigid plate rotation of North America, the glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is by far the largest source of geophysical signal in eastern Canada. We estimate a set of Euler pole parameters for this area using a velocity field of 19 continuously operating GPS stations out of 112, and show that they are different from the overall rotation of the North American plate. This difference potentially reflects local stresses in this seismic region, and the difference in intraplate velocities between the two flanks of the Saint Lawrence River valley accumulate stress along the river.