We had another cabin shaker this morning sent from the Minto area. Just a 5.1, but these quakes are becoming a bit of a habit.

Deep beneath the muskeg of Minto Flats lies two long faults, that give Fairbanks the majority of the earthquakes we feel. Interestingly, the past three shakers, all at around the 5.0 magnitude level, have come from a previously unmapped fault. The Minto area fault lines come from the pressure placed on the Alaska mainland by the Pacific Plate.

This week, people have been talking about the 6.0 magnitude 1995 earthquake that originated under Minto Flats. Everyone that has mentioned it, said that the shaking was far more violent than the 7.9 Denali Quake, which happened in 2002. I imagine that is because Minto is roughly half the distance to Fairbanks as the epicenter of the Denali Quake.

Without a doubt, the best duck hunting I have ever experienced was out in the boggy quagmire of Minto Flats. Amazing to think of fault lines lying under that vast morass, and fault lines that could easily spring a 7.0 or larger earthquake.