A day after a massive earthquake near Alaska sparked tsunami alerts for the U.S. West Coast, a magnitude 6.2 quake was reported early Wednesday off the coast of Japan, officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at 9:50 p.m. local time about 64 miles northeast of the island of Honshu, at a depth of about 24 miles. The temblor on Wednesday was much deeper and weaker than the one off the coast of Alaska.
No tsunami watches or warnings were issued from the Japan quake, and there were no immediate reports of injuries. It was just the latest spark of activity this week along the volatile “Ring of Fire” seismic fault system. More than half the world’s active volcanoes located above ground are in this ring, according to the USGS. The region is the location of most of Earth’s subduction zones, where oceanic plates slide under the lighter continental plates. READ MORE
