The growth of the CCArray Observational network in western Canada

A succession of tectonic events, spanning more than two billion years, has shaped the Canadian Cordillera as a distinct physiographic province within the actively deforming western margin of North and South America. The diverse terranes, faulting, and deformation in western Canada make it a natural laboratory for examining rifting, subduction, terrane accretion, transtension, mountain building, and continental evolution. The paucity of broadband seismic observations in western Canada also distinguish it from the widespread, and regular, seismic sampling of the EarthScope Transportable Array, which has been deployed across the contiguous United States and Alaska. Building on the momentum and success of the EarthScope and the Canadian Lithoprobe programs, the CCArray (Canadian Cordillera Array) program plans to examine this incompletely understood boundary of North America by constructing a network of observatories that will collect seismic, geodetic, and other geologic data (Figure 1). Systematically investigating the structure and dynamics of the Canadian Cordillera will help address major challenges central to resource development, energy security, and geohazard mitigation facing Canada in the 21 century.