This was the first earthquake in this region to reach magnitude 7 since the M7.9 event in 1996. The earthquakes in the Adak area occur on the convergent boundary between the Pacific and North American crustal plates. This region, where the Pacific Plate is subducting under the North American plate, is one of the world's most active seismic zones. Over one hundred earthquakes of magnitude seven or larger have occurred along this subduction boundary in the past hundred years.

The elastic-wave radiation pattern of the M7.0 event and its aftershocks are consistent with the earthquakes occurring as the result of the underthrusting motion of the Pacific plate beneath the North American plate.