Kuril Islands have had 7 Mg 5 + earthquakes in the past week, giving it the most shaken award from ECHEOL. I wondered this morning , why so many and is this just one of those randomly very active areas historically. Upon further research I found that yes, this area is very prone to earthquake activity. Over the last few years Kuril Islands have experienced well over 30 + Mag 5 avg. Earthquakes. It makes sense once you look into the Geography. The Kuril Islands form part of the ring of tectonic instability encircling the Pacific ocean referred to as the Ring of Fire. The islands themselves are summits ofstratovolcanoes that are a direct result of the subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Okhotsk Plate, which forms the Kuril Trench some 200 kilometres (120 mi) east of the islands. The chain has around 100 volcanoes, some 40 of which are active, and many hot springs and fumaroles. There is frequent seismic activity, including amagnitude 8.5 earthquake in 1963 and one of magnitude 8.3 recorded on November 15, 2006, which resulted in tsunami waves up to 5 feet (1.5 m) reaching the Californiacoast.
For now It looks like Kuril Islands will be an exciting place to live and possibly a location to keep an eye on for future major eruption aresa as we continue to wath our energetically charged Ring of Fire .
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