A powerful, magnitude-7.0 earthquake has struck in a remote area near the border between Alaska and the Canadian territory of Yukon on Saturday

A magnitude 7 earthquake has rocked Alaska on Saturday, Dec. 6, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Every fifteen minutes, on average, the ground moves somewhere in Alaska. Most of those quakes are too small to notice, but together they reveal a state under constant geologic pressure. That routine background shaking turned into a regional jolt last Saturday,

The quake occurred about 56 miles from Yakutat at a depth of about 6 miles, and was felt by people across the region.

Magnitude 7 is certainly enough to cause ground failures,” said Alaska state seismologist Michael West, just 40 minutes after Saturday’s earthquake near Yakutat. The weight of decades of geological study was behind his words,

Alaska was rocked by a major, magnitude-7.0 earthquake on Saturday. The quake’s epicenter was reported to be in a remote area near the border between Alaska and Canada. It struck at 11:41 a.m. local time.

An enormous earthquake has rattled the North American continent, with tremors being felt across the US-Canada border.

A marriage between a can of beans and a smoke alarm, 6-pound seismic sensors collect data that researchers use to establish trends.