A major earthquake rumbled off the coast of northern California Tuesday night, about 300 miles northwest of Sacramento, according to the U.S. Geological Survey Web site. The magnitude 7.0 quake struck at 7:51 p.m. (10:51 p.m. EDT) and was located roughly 90 miles offshore, just south of the California-Oregon state line. There have been no reports of damage or injuries, CNN reported. A tsunami warning was issued a short time after the quake but was later canceled. David Applegate, director of the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, said this quake differed from the Indonesian quake that caused the deadly tsunami last December because of how the plates on each side of the fault moved. In Tuesday's earthquake the two plates moved sideways, while in the Indonesian quake one plate thrust over the other, causing a massive displacement of water, Applegate said.
