Scientists analyze Thanksgiving Day earthquake, explain similarities to 2018 quake

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Alaska Earthquake Center is addressing questions about the 6.0 magnitude earthquake that shook south-central and inland Alaska on Thanksgiving morning.

The Alaska Earthquake Center calls it the Susitna earthquake.

Although the epicenter was close to the epicenter of the M7.1 earthquake on November 30, 2018, the Alaska Earthquake Center said it was not an aftershock.

“Aftershocks are kind of an artificial, man-made label for earthquakes. There's nothing in the ground that says this is an aftershock and not an aftershock,” said Austin Holland, director of operations for the Alaska Earthquake Center.

“It was outside the rupture zone of the 2018 Anchorage earthquake, which is what we generally use to determine whether an earthquake is considered an aftershock or not,” he said.

The Alaska Earthquake Center compares the Susitna earthquake to the 2018 Anchorage earthquake. (Sarah Noel/Alaska Earthquake Center)

The Susitna earthquake also occurred just days before the seven-year anniversary of the 2018 quake, causing some to wonder if it was a coincidence.

That's what it was, Holland said.

“This is an active area with a large number of earthquakes throughout our recording history,” he said. “I know it seems really strange that there would be such a good coincidence between the timing of these earthquakes, both at the end of Thanksgiving, and the end of November, but there is no seasonality for deep earthquakes like this.”

The Alaska Earthquake Center looks at the Susitna earthquake. (Kid Quigley/Alaska Earthquake Center)

Another interesting thing about the earthquake is that some people far away from the earthquake felt the shaking stronger and longer.

“Because this was deep enough, it was as deep as it was from Anchorage, which created this ability to spread the energy more widely over a broader area and feel it more widely, including all the way north to Fairbanks.”

The Alaska Earthquake Center looks at the Susitna earthquake. (Michael West/Alaska Earthquake Center)

The Cook Inlet Basin also played a role in some areas, including Nikiski, which felt the quake longer and stronger because of the way sediments affect the speed of seismic waves.

“In addition, sometimes, in basins, depending on the direction of the waves entering the basin, the waves can get trapped in the basin and resonate. And so all of these factors can play together to change people's experiences. In general, people's experiences can vary greatly even within the same basin.”

Some also received notification around the time the earthquake started. It's part of an addition to Android that was put out about a year ago.

“We've never had as many notifications in Alaska from Android, in part because a lot of our earthquakes are off the Aleutian coast, and you need people's Android phones to generate those seismic alerts,” Holland said.

“One of the things we're looking to do at the Alaska Earthquake Center is to produce a system that doesn't depend on where people's phones are, but depends on where we put devices around the area. This is called earthquake early warning,” he said. “The goal is to give people a few seconds to tens of seconds to prepare before the strongest tremor hits where they are.”

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