60 km NW of Elfin Cove, Alaska

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 18 km (11 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

USGS catalogues this as ice quake, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 60 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 250,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 16× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.2 about 60 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 4.5 on 2017-01-16 — about 2,800 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.8 22 km W of Elfin Cove, Alaska · 42 km SE of this epicentre Jul 10, 1958
2. 6.1 62 km W of Elfin Cove, Alaska · 45 km SSW of this epicentre Nov 16, 1945
3. 6.1 77 km SW of Covenant Life, Alaska · 44 km NNE of this epicentre Mar 9, 1952
4. 6.0 40 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska · 24 km SSE of this epicentre Jul 25, 2014
5. 5.6 34 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska · 27 km SE of this epicentre Jun 24, 1991

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 58.5226, -137.1666. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.9 48 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 08:53 UTC
2. 2.4 64 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 20:55 UTC
3. 1.7 77 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 02:30 UTC
4. 1.5 102 km NW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 16:29 UTC
5. 1.9 57 km W of Elfin Cove, Alaska 02:46 UTC
6. 1.6 61 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 05:16 UTC
7. 2.4 66 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 01:36 UTC
8. 2.2 56 km NW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 12:53 UTC
9. 2.0 71 km NW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 05:40 UTC
10. 2.3 63 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 22:14 UTC
11. 1.6 73 km NW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 12:53 UTC
12. 2.5 64 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 20:20 UTC
13. 2.8 57 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 18:48 UTC
14. 2.2 57 km NW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 07:23 UTC
15. 2.2 58 km NW of Elfin Cove, Alaska 19:43 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 09:12 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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