A large earthquake shook the Alaska Peninsula Thursday night near Chignik Bay. 

Over the last week, a number of small earthquakes have taken place near the Fox Islands, Rat Islands and elsewhere along the Alaska Peninsula and throughout the Aleutian Chain.

“The Aleutian Arc is by far the most seismically active part of the entire state, said Natalia Rupert. She is a seismologist at the Alaska Earth Quake information Center.  She said the Aleutians arc marks an expansive boundary between two colliding tectonic plates.

“And as they collide, they create all this stress and stress is released in large earthquakes or large amounts of small earthquakes," explained Rupert.

Rupert says there’s no way to predict when or if another large quake will take place.

“It’s possible and for a couple of days, we’ll keep close attention to this particular area, because it is possible that this earthquake will be followed by either large aftershocks or larger events in the same area," she said. "It’s not very likely, but it’s still possible.”

Locals reported shaking that lasted for up to a minute. Rupert said that may have something to do with where the quake took place.

“If it’s near the bay and the ground underneath is pretty much soft sediments, then they keep shaking longer than soft-rock sites, so depending on where reports are coming from it’s possible the shaking lasted as long as a minute," she said.

The earthquake was followed by a handful of small aftershocks, Rupert said it’s unlikely the quake is linked to any volcanic activity in the region.