New Earthquake Swarm Hits Aleutian Islands: Volcano Alert Level Raised

Earthquake swarm hits near Davidof Volcano in the Rat Islands, Alaska where a M8.7 megathrust earthquake triggered a 10-meter-high tsunami back in 1965 – Volcano Alert Level raised by AVO

Strange Sounds

The Rat Islands are part of the Aleutian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands, that results from the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the North American Plate.

 This plate boundary, the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust, has been the location of many megathrust earthquakes. The latest occurred in on February 4, 1965.

Today, more than 15 earthquakes have rattled the same area.

The swarm of earthquakes is occurring near the Davidof volcano. This swarm may be associated with volcanic unrest or it could also be due to regional tectonic activity.

I am now wondering if this seismic series could be the sign of a new major earthquake along the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust… Or is a new volcano about to erupt?

Due to the possibility of escalating volcanic unrest, AVO raised the Aviation Color Code and Volcano Alert Level for Davidof to YELLOW/ADVISORY.

AVO continues to monitor the situation with seismometers deployed on nearby islands since there is no real-time seismic monitoring network at Davidof volcano. The closest seismometers to Davidof are approximately 13 km (8 miles) to the east of the volcano on Little Sitkin Island.

Davidof volcano is a mostly submerged stratovolcano in the Rat Islands group in the western Aleutian Islands, about 350 km (218 miles) west of Adak.

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