A small earthquake shook Ketchikan this week. Here’s why it’s relatively uncommon in Southeast Alaska

The western shores of Carroll’s entrance, where a 2.5-magnitude earthquake struck on Wednesday, October 20. (Photo by Larry Edwards/Alaska Rainforest Defenders)

Many people in Ketchikan and Mitlakatla heard and felt a small tremor Wednesday evening when a 2.5-magnitude earthquake struck Carol Inlet, about 15 miles northeast of the city. It is a relatively uncommon occurrence in the southern region.

Researchers have recorded more than 38,000 earthquakes in Alaska this year alone. But seismologist at the Alaska Earthquake Center Matt Jardine says they’re less common in southeastern Alaska, especially near Ketchikan. He says only about 25 have been registered in the southern region this year, so no one in the region has heard of it.

“There is a large fault system offshore, the Queen Charlotte Fault, and most earthquakes have already occurred there,” he said. “So no one ever felt it,”

Earthquakes near the southeast coast, where they can be felt, are rare, Jardine says.

So why does Southeast Alaska experience fewer earthquakes than other parts of the state? Jardine says, for example, that the area has a smaller fault system than in Anchorage. There are also much fewer people, and they are spread out. It also has to do with the kind of faults that run under southeast Alaska, he says.

“Under Anchorage, this is where the Pacific plate subduction under North America takes place. Outside of Ketchikan, its faults are a little different,” he said. “They slide, so they’re very similar to San Andreas. It’s actually the same general fault system, the Pacific Ocean. [Plate] Bypass North America sideways. “

He says these faults tend to produce fewer earthquakes.

Every now and then, there’s a big earthquake on the Queen Charlotte Fault. A 7.5-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Prince of Wales struck the region in 2013, and a smaller 6.0-magnitude earthquake was also widely felt in Glacier Bay National Park the following year. But neither of them caused extensive damage.

Finally, Jardine says, the earthquake risk in southeastern Alaska is slightly lower than in other parts of the state. He says the biggest threat to the region is not earthquakes, but tsunamis.

In particular, these will be tsunamis caused by landslides. As you know, with the very steep terrain, there is prone to landslides both above the beach and under the sea that can be caused by earthquakes. This can cause very large tsunamis with little warning.

One landslide-triggered tsunami occurred in Lituya Bay in 1958. After a 7.8-magnitude earthquake dumped 90 million tons of rock into the bay, the tsunami cut two square miles of forest at elevations of up to 1,700 feet.

Jardine says Wednesday’s earthquake was a good reminder that earthquakes can strike anywhere in the state — and that people should be prepared to fall, cover, and hang on when the ground shakes.

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