Originally Posted by rockdoc
Originally Posted by ironbender
Interesting plot.

[Linked Image]

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.

That's great! Where did you get this?

Really shows the subduction zone. Funny how this wasn't really known until plate tectonics theory in the 1960's!

Only criticism is the directions (NW-SE) should be reversed!

Cheers, Chris

Graphic location: http://earthquake.alaska.edu/m71-iniskin-earthquake-evolving-content

Not sure why you think directions should be reversed. The pacific plate moves in a SE-->NW direction and is the plate being subducted.

If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli

American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender