Most earthquakes occur along plate boundaries and are caused by the repeated accumulation and release of strain in the rocks of tectonic plates moving past one another. However, the same forces driving these interplate earthquakes does not account for intraplate earthquakes, which are located within the interiors of a tectonic plate. The relatively long recurrence intervals between large earthquakes, causal fault locations, and driving mechanisms of intraplate earthquakes present a challenge to understanding their physical mechanisms and the seismic hazard in intraplate regions.

The search for life beyond Earth is a primary goal of NASA, and in our solar system ocean worlds such as Jupiter’s moon Europa are among the most promising targets. Europa has a global outer shell of ice which is likely to be tens of km thick – but also a lower mass meaning pressures and temperatures in the upper ocean below the shell may be similar to Earth’s polar oceans.

Natural earthquakes occur on faults ranging from 0 to 700 km beneath Earth's surface in different tectonic settings, such as along major subduction zones in Japan and the arc