A powerful earthquake measuring 6.1 struck the Bering Sea on Monday morning, according to India’s National Center for Seismology (NCS).
The tremor occurred at a depth of 45km. In a post on X, the NCS said: “EQ of M: 6.1, On: 23/02/2026 10:41:52 IST, Lat: 52.81 N, Long: 170.08 W, Depth: 45 Km, Location: Bering Sea.”
The central Bering Sea is considered largely aseismic. However, seismic activity increases towards its northern and southern margins. In the north, a broad and diffuse zone of earthquakes stretches from western Alaska across the Bering Strait into eastern Russia. Researchers believe this marks the northern boundary of the Bering microplate.
To the south lies the Aleutian Arc, one of the most active seismic zones in the region. There, earthquakes are linked to ongoing subduction, as one tectonic plate is forced beneath another, according to research by the University of Alaska.
Historical data show that the wider region has experienced significant seismic events. In 1991, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck about 210km southeast of the April 30, 2010 earthquakes. Studies of the 1991 and 2010 events suggest north–south extension and east–west compression of the Earth’s crust.
The University of Alaska has said the April 30, 2010 earthquake may have been structurally connected to a graben-like formation beneath the headwall of Zhemchug Canyon — the world’s largest submarine canyon by volume. Both the main shock and its strongest aftershock were classified as strike-slip earthquakes.
Researchers noted that the structural grain of the headwall trends northwest–southeast, parallel to the left-lateral nodal plane of the April 30 events. The right-lateral nodal plane aligns with the broader crustal fabric of a possible offshore continuation of major northeast-southwest trending strike-slip fault systems in western Alaska, including the Kaltag, Kobuk and Denali faults. If these structures extend beneath the sea, they may have been the source of the 2010 earthquakes.
The Bering Sea lies within the wider circum-Pacific seismic belt, often referred to as the “Ring of Fire”. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), about 81 per cent of the world’s largest earthquakes occur along this belt, which rims the Pacific Ocean.
The zone traces the boundaries of tectonic plates, where oceanic crust is commonly forced beneath adjacent plates. Earthquakes in these areas result from movement along plate boundaries as well as ruptures within the plates themselves. Among the most powerful earthquakes recorded along the belt are the 1960 magnitude 9.5 Chilean (Valdivia) earthquake and the 1964 magnitude 9.2 Alaska earthquake.
(With ANI inputs)
