America’s Earthquake, 6-magnitude shock hits Adak Island, all details « 3B Meteo

A shock Earthquake A magnitude of 6 occurred at 05:03 (4.03pm in Italy) Earthquake near Adak Island, USA. The estimated depth was approx 1 km. You can track all tremors in Italy and major earthquakes in the world in our special earthquakes section.

Earthquake data Updated regularly Collaborative Research Centre, European Commission thanks to: GDACS

Why do earthquakes occur and what does it depend on? Earthquakes are the most violent manifestations of nature, resulting from complex kinetic dynamics that mainly involve the outermost part of our planet, the crust. The crust is divided into several plates, or plates fitted together like a puzzle, with at least seven large ones and a dozen smaller ones. These plates of the crust rest on a partially molten lower layer with plastic behavior called the mantle and move slowly over time, pulled like a treadmill by convection movements in the mantle. The edges of the plates are subjected to enormous stresses, which cause the rock to crack and fracture into large fractures, called faults. Activation of faults results in shallow (more damaging) or deep (more than 50-70km) earthquakes. Earthquakes can occur far away from plate boundaries, for example in volcanic regions.

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