QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.2ml

39 km ESE of Cantwell, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.2 earthquake was recorded 39 km ESE of Cantwell, Alaska, at 6:23 pm AKST on 23 January 2020 (03:23 UTC), 197 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.

· 197 km deep · released about 60 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Denali Borough 100 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 2.2 (ml)
Depth
197 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Denali Borough, 100 km WNW
Nearest mapped fault
Denali fault, 19 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2482 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 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 2019-10-27 — about 2,800 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.9 2002 Denali Fault, Alaska Earthquake · 43 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 6.6 53 km ENE of Cantwell, Alaska · 27 km NNE of this epicentre
  3. 5.4 38 km SSE of Cantwell, Alaska · 31 km SW of this epicentre
  4. 5.1 77 km E of Cantwell, Alaska · 44 km ENE of this epicentre
  5. 5.1 78 km ESE of McKinley Park, Alaska · 46 km ENE 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 63.3093, -148.1863. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Denali Borough, AK 100 km (62 mi) WNW earthquakes near Denali Borough
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK 134 km (83 mi) SSW earthquakes near Matanuska-Susitna Borough

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 61 km SE of Cantwell, Alaska
  2. 2.1 64 km SE of Cantwell, Alaska
  3. 1.7 18 km ENE of Cantwell, Alaska
  4. 2.7 68 km SSE of Cantwell, Alaska
  5. 2.0 30 km E of Cantwell, Alaska
  6. 1.6 36 km E of McKinley Park, Alaska
  7. 1.6 54 km SSE of Cantwell, Alaska
  8. 2.8 49 km SE of Cantwell, Alaska
  9. 1.6 23 km SSE of Cantwell, Alaska
  10. 2.8 64 km SSE of Cantwell, Alaska
  11. 1.9 64 km ESE of McKinley Park, Alaska
  12. 1.7 56 km SE of Cantwell, Alaska
  13. 2.2 61 km NW of Cantwell, AK
  14. 1.6 60 km ESE of McKinley Park, Alaska
  15. 1.6 31 km SE of Cantwell, 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.