Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
79 km W of Adak, Alaska
Yes. A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 79 km W of Adak, Alaska at 20:51 UTC on 2020-01-31, 7.7 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.7 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2454 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 8 km (5 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.
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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
- 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 6.5 on 2018-08-15 — about 22,000,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 67 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.9 77 km WSW of Adak, Alaska · 33 km SSE of this epicentre
- 7.3 88 km WSW of Adak, Alaska · 41 km S of this epicentre
- 7.0 114 km WSW of Adak, Alaska · 50 km SSW of this epicentre
- 6.9 78 km WSW of Adak, Alaska · 30 km SSE of this epicentre
- 6.6 61 km W of Adak, Alaska · 18 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 51.8433, -177.7824. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Aftershocks so far
59 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.8 88 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 1.6 78 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 1.9 88 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 1.6 88 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 1.8 82 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 2.0 Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska
- 1.8 77 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 1.6 77 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 2.8 86 km SW of Adak, Alaska
- 1.8 79 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 2.2 78 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 1.9 86 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 2.1 87 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 1.7 84 km W of Adak, Alaska
- 1.5 Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands, 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
- 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.