Magnitude 5.7 - 14 miles NE of Noatak

Tectonic Setting of Northwest Alaska

A wide, diffuse zone of seismicity extends from northwest Alaska across the Bering Strait into eastern Russia. This zone is believed to mark northern boundary of the Bering microplate. Moderate-to-large normal faulting and strike-slip events have occurred in this region, including on the Seward Peninsula. The largest of these events was the 1958 M7.3 Huslia earthquake. It was a normal faulting event that produced extensive failures in unconsolidated surficial deposits within a northeast-striking zone. In 2014, a vigorous earthquake swarm was recorded about 25 miles north of Noatak on the Lisburne Peninsula.