Geodynamics

The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC)'s Geodynamics Program is housed within the Sidney Subdivision of GSC: Pacific. We are located at the Pacific Geoscience Centre (PGC), Sidney, British Columbia, Canada.

The Geodynamics Program provides information on contemporary movements of the Earth's crust for studies of earthquake hazard and global change.

The surface of the Earth is constantly deforming in response to changes in the forces acting on the Earth's crust. Using modern technology, this deformation can be measured with ever-increasing precision thereby providing new information crucial to studies of earthquake hazard and global change.

In active seismic regions at plate margins, such as the west coast of British Columbia, crustal deformation can be related directly to the build-up of stress between tectonic plates. This accumulating stress is eventually released in the form of very large earthquakes. Consequently, monitoring and modelling the buckling and squeezing of the Earth's surface in these areas, leads to a better understanding of earthquake processes and provides clues as to where and when the next large earthquake is likely to occur.

The global change component of the Geodynamics Program is focused on the waxing and waning of the great ice sheets which caused the Earth's surface to deform due to the tremendous weight of the ice. Current research attempts to measure and model postglacial rebound and determine the effect this crustal tilting will have on drainage patterns of lakes and rivers. These global change studies also address the question of how sea-level has changed and is changing.