Sunday morning’s magnitude-7.1 earthquake is the strongest of its kind ever recorded in the Cook Inlet area, according to Alaska-based seismologists. Sara Meyer, a research technician with the Alaska Earthquake Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, said Sunday morning that an initial magnitude of 6.8 was revised upward shortly after the 1:30 a.m. temblor to the figure reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. Numerous aftershocks were still being recorded Sunday morning.
“Our official magnitude that we’re reporting is 7.1, and that’s in agreement with USGS and the National Tsunami Warning Center,” Meyer said. Meyer said the tectonic cause of the quake, recorded at a depth of 76 miles, was the Pacific Plate of the Earth’s crust sliding beneath the North American Plate. “This is actually the largest intermediate-depth earthquake in the Cook Inlet that we’ve seen since we set up equipment in the 1960s,” Meyer said. The Alaska Volcano Observatory didn’t report any volcanic activity in connection with the quake Sunday, according to a message on Twitter. FULL REPORT
