Earthquakes occur throughout the U.S., with the highest concentration in Alaska.
The United States houses several active earthquake zones and fault lines. California is perhaps the most popular area for earthquakes, but Alaska ranks highest for the state with the most earthquakes per year. Along with Alaska and California, the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii are also high earthquake activity zones. The East Coast and Midwest are not excluded from the mix and encounter a number of earthquakes as well.
West Coast
California is well known for its earthquakes, which originate from the San Andreas Fault. Washington and Oregon are also at risk because they are located in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. These Pacific Northwest states can see earthquakes 30 times more powerful than those produced by California's San Andreas Fault.
East Coast
The east coast sees much less earthquake activity than the west coast, but earthquakes are not uncommon in the east. New York houses the Ramapo Fault, and a number of other faults run from Canada to South Carolina. While earthquakes in this region are typically much smaller, they can generally be felt farther away from the epicenter because of harder ground.
Midwest
The Midwest is home to some of the largest earthquakes in recorded history, originating from the New Madrid fault system. The central U.S. isn't prone to frequent or large quakes, but because of the history of large quakes recorded in this area, it is thought to be a potential site for a "big one" sometime this century.
Alaska and Hawaii
More earthquakes occur in Alaska per year than in any other state, and the largest earthquake on record in the United States occurred in Alaska. This subduction zone is known as the Alaskan-Aleutian Megathrust and is much bigger than the Pacific Northwest's Cascadia Subduction Zone. The Hawaiian Islands are also known for experiencing a high number of earthquakes, but Hawaii's earthquakes are generally associated with the processes from the Hawaiian volcanoes rather than fault lines.
Tags: Pacific Northwest, Andreas Fault, Cascadia Subduction, Cascadia Subduction Zone, earthquake activity
