Sitkans who felt the ground shaking on Monday afternoon weren’t imagining it.
The Alaska Earthquake Center reported a magnitude 3.5 earthquake that struck at 12:50 p.m., about 37 miles west of Sitka and 9 miles deep.
Recent seismic activity near Sitka has centered around Mt. Edgecumbe — recently classified as historically active — which experienced a swarm of earthquakes in April.
But Natalia Ruppert, a seismologist with the Alaska Earthquake Center in Fairbanks, says Monday’s quake was not associated with the volcano.
“This earthquake was on the Queen Charlotte Fault — it’s a major strike-slip fault off Southeast Alaska. We record this type of earthquake once in a while,” Ruppert said. “They are not very frequent, but we do record them occasionally.”
Ruppert says the earthquake center received reports of the earthquake being felt in Sitka and as far away as Douglas. She says anyone who felt the rumblings can share their experience with the center here.
