QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

98 km S of McCarthy, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 98 km S of McCarthy, Alaska at 04:23 UTC on 2018-07-23, 14 km deep.

· 14 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 1.8 (ml)
Depth
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1186 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 63× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.3 on 2017-11-13 — about 5,600 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 60.5553, -142.6725. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

59 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.5 108 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  2. 1.7 124 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  3. 1.8 124 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  4. 2.1 121 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  5. 1.6 123 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  6. 2.2 118 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  7. 1.8 119 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  8. 2.4 130 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  9. 1.9 124 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  10. 1.8 122 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  11. 1.6 131 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  12. 3.3 127 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  13. 1.5 108 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  14. 1.5 110 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  15. 1.6 99 km S of McCarthy, Alaska

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.