Medical Definition of leach. 1  1: to subject to the action of percolating liquid (as water) in order to separate the soluble components. 2  2: to dissolve out by the action of a percolating liquid. 3  intransitive verb.
The Pacific Plate is moving northwestwardly under the North American Plate at a rate of approximately 2.5 inches per year, resulting in many fault lines. Earthquakes are very common and there are an average of 50-100 earthquakes throughout Alaska--daily! In fact, Alaska has more earthquakes per year than all other U.S. states combined! The picture above, taken in Portage, Alaska near Anchorage, is one of the many remnants of the famous 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake. The magnitude 9.2 quake which shook South-Central Alaska on March 27, 1964 at 5:36 p.m. Alaska Standard Time, lasted for over four minutes and was felt around the world.
Magnitude six and seven earthquakes can nearly happen anywhere in Alaska. We reported over 150,000 earthquakes in Alaska over the last five years. Thirty-one of those had magnitudes of 6 or greater, and four had magnitudes of at least 7. Seventy-five percent of all earthquakes in the United States with magnitudes larger than five happen in Alaska.