Earthquake near Meadow Lakes, AK

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 57 km (35 mi) from the epicentre. In Meadow Lakes, 49 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: Willow 27 km, intensity II · Big Lake 35 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 22,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 7.6 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 16× more

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 5.2 on 2019-09-17 — about 130 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 25 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.9 27 km SE of Skwentna, Alaska · 30 km WNW of this epicentre Nov 3, 1943
2. 5.9 23 km NE of Willow, Alaska · 48 km ENE of this epicentre Jan 1, 1975
3. 5.8 27 km N of Beluga, Alaska · 43 km SW of this epicentre Jun 19, 1933
4. 5.7 19 km E of Skwentna, Alaska · 42 km NW of this epicentre Nov 3, 1970
5. 5.6 11 km NW of Big Lake, Alaska · 24 km ESE of this epicentre Oct 7, 1966

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 61.6878, -150.5259. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.0 22 km NW of Susitna, Alaska 07:56 UTC
2. 1.6 Southern Alaska 03:04 UTC
3. 2.0 6 km W of Point MacKenzie, Alaska 17:28 UTC
4. 1.7 33 km WNW of Willow, Alaska 12:49 UTC
5. 2.4 5 km SSW of Big Lake, Alaska 13:19 UTC
6. 1.5 4 km NNW of Point MacKenzie, Alaska 13:01 UTC
7. 1.9 26 km NW of Susitna, Alaska 08:38 UTC
8. 1.8 12 km SSW of Susitna, Alaska 04:23 UTC
9. 1.5 21 km WSW of Susitna North, Alaska 01:37 UTC
10. 1.9 13 km NNW of Susitna, Alaska 20:40 UTC
11. 1.6 30 km N of Susitna, Alaska 19:01 UTC
12. 1.5 23 km NNW of Susitna, Alaska 02:53 UTC
13. 1.6 20 km NW of Susitna, Alaska 14:02 UTC
14. 1.7 11 km SW of Big Lake, Alaska 23:51 UTC
15. 1.5 27 km W of Susitna, Alaska 10:07 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:36 UTC. 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.