QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.0ml

50 km NNW of Paxson, Alaska

· 12 km deep · released about 30 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 2.0 (ml)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest mapped fault
Denali fault, 3 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 1978 days ago

A magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 50 km NNW of Paxson, Alaska at 02:50 UTC on 2021-04-10. This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 30 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 350,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 32× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 30 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.2 30 km SSW of Fort Greely, Alaska · 28 km NE of this epicentre
  2. 5.7 31 km NNE of Paxson, Alaska · 41 km ESE of this epicentre
  3. 5.6 23 km NNW of Paxson, Alaska · 29 km SE of this epicentre
  4. 5.6 23 km N of Paxson, Alaska · 30 km SE of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 19 km NNE of Paxson, Alaska · 39 km SE 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 63.4767, -146.1216. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.4 49 km NNW of Paxson, Alaska
  2. 1.8 59 km NW of Paxson, Alaska
  3. 1.8 48 km SW of Fort Greely, Alaska
  4. 1.6 63 km NW of Paxson, Alaska
  5. 2.0 52 km NNW of Paxson, Alaska
  6. 1.6 29 km WSW of Delta Junction, Alaska
  7. 1.6 70 km NW of Paxson, Alaska
  8. 1.6 29 km N of Paxson, Alaska
  9. 1.9 30 km N of Paxson, Alaska
  10. 1.7 9 km SSW of Fort Greely, Alaska
  11. 1.7 12 km WSW of Fort Greely, Alaska
  12. 2.3 15 km WSW of Fort Greely, Alaska
  13. 1.5 15 km WSW of Fort Greely, Alaska
  14. 1.5 52 km NNW of Paxson, Alaska
  15. 2.2 46 km SW of Fort Greely, 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.