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The Nisqually earthquake is an example of an "intraslab" earthquake, one of the other kinds of earthquakes that can occur in the area. Intraslab earthquakes occur in the subducting oceanic slab and shallow crustal earthquakes occur in the North America plate above the subduction zone. These earthquakes are smaller than megathrust earthquakes, but are also hazardous because they can occur near populated areas, in contrast to the offshore megathrust earthquakes. GPS observations from Washington State have documented the crustal displacement from the Nisqually earthquake and illustrate the numerous uses of the technique.
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