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Interesting plot.



Earthquake cross section through the Cook Inlet region
Here is a cross section through the Cook Inlet region. The circles are historical earthquakes. Note that this morning’s earthquake occurred inside the Pacific Plate. This is a frequent source of earthquakes in the region. Its depth is very important because it demonstrates that the earthquake has nothing to do with processes in the crust including known faults, volcanoes, bodies of water, sedimentary basins---or any other type of local geology. This earthquake occurred in what was once (millions of years ago) the crust under the Pacific Ocean. As the Pacific Plate is pulled slowly into the earth (a couple inches per year), the stretching creates earthquake. The location, fault orientation, and slip of the M7.1 earthquake align perfectly with this stretching action.