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Today's 6.98 Mw earthquake was along the Mendocino fracture zone, where the North American, Pacific, and Gorda tectonic plates meet. Per the USGS, the quake took place along a steeply dipping thrust at a depth of 600 m—hence the tsunami alert, which has now been lifted.

This kind of quake is not uncommon, and is a testament to the fact that we live on a geologically active world. Thrust-fault-driven quakes generally are common in areas such as this, where one plate subducts beneath another. Indeed, subduction zones host the very largest quakes.

(Not counting those quakes resulting from asteroid/comet impact strikes. But let's not worry about that today.)

I’m swamped today. Can we put off any asteroid/comet impact strikes until tomorrow?