A magnitude 5.1 earthquake was reported 17 miles southeast of Redoubt Volcano. It happened at a depth of 72.8 miles at 8:18 p.m. Thursday.
The event was felt across the Kenai Peninsula, Anchorage and in the Mat-Su Valley. The nearest communities to feel the rumble included Ninilchik, Clam Gulch, Kasilof, Kenai, Anchor Point, and Nikiski.
The earthquake lasted about 18 seconds long for residents in the Kenai/Soldotna area.
The Earthquake Center reports that the strongest earthquakes in Southern Alaska are generated by the megathrust fault that marks the contact zone between the subducting Pacific and overriding North American plates. The 1964 magnitude 9.4 Great Alaska Earthquake, which is still the second largest earthquake ever recorded worldwide, began under Prince William Sound, which extends along the Aleutian Arc, Alaska Peninsula and Cook Inlet and terminates beneath the northern foothills of the Alaska Range.
Historically, magnitude 6+ earthquakes of this type have been recorded beneath Cook Inlet.