Swarm of earthquakes hit Alaska's Kodiak Island

The US Geological Survey reported that the strongest quake struck at 18:22 GMT in the Gulf of Alaska some 98 kilometers (61 miles) southeast of Kodiak, an island of about 14,000 people that serves as a popular eco-tourism destination.
It occurred at a depth of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) and about 560 kilometers (348 miles) southwest of Alaska's largest city, Anchorage.

Several quakes of magnitude 5.0 or higher rattled the region in the minutes and hours before the 5.9 quake.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in the area from the "swarm" of more than two dozen earthquakes which occurred off Kodiak Island in recent days, an official at the USGS told AFP.

Earthquakes and volcanic activity are common in the area, which is part of the "Ring of Fire" where the Pacific plate of the earth's crust meets other continental plates.

Alaska's Kodiak Island is being slammed by a swarm of earthquakes — one with a magnitude of at least 5.9.
Richard Buckmaster, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., says the southeast region of the island was hit Saturday by 20 earthquakes with magnitudes of 2.6 or greater.
He says the 5.9 magnitude quake is expected to be upgraded to 6.1.
The quakes are centered southeast of Old Harbor, but there have been no reports that they've been felt.
The earthquakes follow two light quakes that struck the same area less than an hour apart Friday.
Buckmaster says the area is seismically active because the Pacific and North American plates intersect along the island and neighboring Aleutian Islands chain.

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Other reports:
USGS - www.usgs.gov...

AFP:
www.google.com...

Other ATS threads:

Volcano Watch
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Earthquake Watch
www.abovetopsecret.com...

jw

I was keeping an eye on this also...

Wyoming had a ~3.9M last night as well...

Hope all this shaking don't wake up old Yellerstone

[edit on 5/17/2009 by Hx3_1963]

Very odd quakes happening including Virginia having one and other areas - looking at the map is interesting - some odd lines being formed etc.

I look at the map a few times a day, needless to say.

reply to post by Hx3_1963

It could be the other way around.

Yellowstone to Washington to Kodiak/Aleutians.

There seems to be a pattern if you check USGS.

Earth seems busy trying to shake something off.

jw

reply to post by questioningall

Even as far out of the way as Maine and Arkansas. Seems a little jittery to me.

I've got USGS Earthquake page on my favorites, too. We seem a little busy.

jw

Well we've all seen an increase in Seismic activity over the past year and it doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

Remember that whole Yellowstone scare we had a few months back? That might come into play again during the summer.

If I am not mistaken, don't we have more seismic activity in the summer than any other time of year, or did I just pull that one out of by bum .

In any case, we are going into some interesting times, our environment is changing, and we still don't have all the answers as to why. Much of this will be a waiting game I suppose.

~Keeper

reply to post by tothetenthpower

I don't know about seasonal variations, but there is a geophysicist who believes that the moon interacts with plate tectonics to create earthquakes.

He got Loma Linda and others right w/i a few days, but most disregard his theories. I do not recall his name, but I'll google for him and see what his latest ideas are.

Good point.

jw