QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

58 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 58 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska, at 5:02 pm AKDT on 9 August 2020 (01:02 UTC), 14 km deep.

· 14 km deep · released about 15 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2269 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 1 km (1 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 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 5.7 on 2020-07-22 — about 710,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 36 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.4 54 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 5 km NNW of this epicentre
  2. 6.9 17 km S of Sand Point, Alaska · 45 km NW of this epicentre
  3. 6.6 72 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 17 km E of this epicentre
  4. 6.6 85 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 26 km SE of this epicentre
  5. 6.5 94 km ESE of Sand Point, Alaska · 43 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 54.9525, -159.8664. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 4.0 46 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  2. 1.9 66 km ESE of Sand Point, Alaska
  3. 1.8 63 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  4. 2.8 52 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  5. 2.2 57 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  6. 1.8 53 km ESE of Sand Point, Alaska
  7. 1.9 65 km ESE of Sand Point, Alaska
  8. 2.2 73 km ESE of Sand Point, Alaska
  9. 1.9 56 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  10. 1.9 63 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  11. 2.8 59 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  12. 1.5 25 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  13. 1.7 54 km ESE of Sand Point, Alaska
  14. 1.9 74 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  15. 1.8 54 km SSE of Sand Point, 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.