QuakeIndex

ice quake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

110 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska

No: USGS classifies this as a ice quake, not an earthquake. A magnitude 1.6 ice quake was recorded 110 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska at 13:43 UTC on 2019-10-17, less than 1 km deep.

· 0.0 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Yakutat City and Borough 109 km
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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
0.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Yakutat City and Borough, 109 km ESE
Nearest mapped fault
Kosakuts fault (Chugach-St. Elias fold and thrust belt), 20 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2562 days ago

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 11 km (7 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 7.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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 11,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 7.1 113 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska · 31 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 5.4 127 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska · 49 km ENE of this epicentre
  3. 5.0 132 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska · 49 km E 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 60.5235, -142.1117. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Yakutat City and Borough, AK 109 km (68 mi) ESE earthquakes near Yakutat City and Borough

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 135 km WNW of Yakutat, Alaska
  2. 1.9 138 km WNW of Yakutat, Alaska
  3. 2.4 133 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska
  4. 2.2 Southern Alaska
  5. 1.8 120 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska
  6. 1.6 Southern Alaska
  7. 1.5 140 km WNW of Yakutat, Alaska
  8. 1.8 85 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  9. 1.6 135 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska
  10. 1.5 107 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  11. 2.0 133 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska
  12. 2.3 89 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska
  13. 1.6 128 km WNW of Yakutat, Alaska
  14. 2.0 110 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  15. 1.6 90 km SSE 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.