QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0ml

12 km SW of Nanwalek, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 12 km SW of Nanwalek, Alaska, at 9:06 am AKDT on 15 August 2019 (17:06 UTC), 56 km deep.

· 56 km deep · released about 950 lb of TNT

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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 3.0 (ml)
Depth
56 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2568 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes 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 950 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 950 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 5.8 on 2019-05-27 — about 16,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 25 km NW of Nanwalek, Alaska · 29 km NNW of this epicentre
  2. 5.7 30 km ESE of Port Graham, Alaska · 40 km E of this epicentre
  3. 5.5 6 km WNW of Nanwalek, Alaska · 12 km N of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 22 km ESE of Port Graham, Alaska · 33 km E of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 41 km WNW of Nanwalek, Alaska · 39 km WNW 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 59.2619, -152.0489. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 32 km S of Port Graham, Alaska
  2. 1.7 25 km SSW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  3. 1.9 Southern Alaska
  4. 1.9 38 km SW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  5. 2.6 37 km SSW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  6. 1.7 39 km SW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  7. 1.7 33 km WSW of Anchor Point, Alaska
  8. 1.6 15 km WNW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  9. 1.9 58 km SW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  10. 1.5 21 km SW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  11. 1.6 36 km WNW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  12. 1.6 34 km W of Nanwalek, Alaska
  13. 1.8 28 km WNW of Nanwalek, Alaska
  14. 1.8 36 km WSW of Anchor Point, Alaska
  15. 1.9 23 km W of Nanwalek, 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.