QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

60 km WSW of Nanwalek, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 60 km WSW of Nanwalek, Alaska, at 5:48 pm AKST on 16 January 2018 (02:48 UTC), 68 km deep.

· 68 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
68 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1190 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 5.6 on 2017-03-02 — about 500,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.0 61 km WSW of Nanwalek, Alaska · 7 km S of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 Southern Alaska · 26 km N of this epicentre
  3. 5.8 63 km WSW of Nanwalek, Alaska · 14 km S of this epicentre
  4. 5.6 67 km SE of Pedro Bay, Alaska · 29 km NNW of this epicentre
  5. 5.5 73 km WSW of Nanwalek, Alaska · 22 km S of this epicentre

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 59.1946, -152.9307. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 Kodiak Island region, Alaska
  2. 1.7 61 km WNW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  3. 1.5 62 km WNW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  4. 1.9 44 km SW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  5. 1.5 41 km W of Nanwalek, Alaska
  6. 1.5 57 km WNW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  7. 1.7 65 km WSW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  8. 1.6 43 km SW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  9. 2.0 88 km NNW of Aleneva, Alaska
  10. 1.8 49 km W of Nanwalek, Alaska
  11. 2.0 81 km SW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  12. 1.6 55 km WNW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  13. 2.0 36 km WSW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  14. 1.7 65 km WNW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  15. 1.6 74 km ESE of Pope-Vannoy Landing, 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.