Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 5.1mww
200 km SE of Chignik, Alaska
Yes. A magnitude 5.1 earthquake was recorded 200 km SE of Chignik, Alaska at 23:05 UTC on 2021-09-16, 33 km deep. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 5.1 (mww)
- Depth
- 33 km below the surface
- Felt
- 1 report · strongest reported intensity II
- Measured shaking
- intensity III (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Tsunami
- USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 326 days ago
This was a moderate earthquake. Shaking at this size can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 203 km (126 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 670 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 6.1 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7.9× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 5.1 about 670 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1,400× 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 5.6 on 2021-09-16 — about 5.6 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.0 164 km SE of Chignik, Alaska · 43 km N of this epicentre
- 6.2 189 km SE of Chignik, Alaska · 15 km W of this epicentre
- 6.1 210 km SE of Chignik, Alaska · 46 km NE of this epicentre
- 6.0 168 km SE of Chignik, Alaska · 36 km NNW of this epicentre
- 5.6 171 km SE of Chignik, Alaska · 29 km NW 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 54.9420, -156.3037. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Aftershocks so far
55 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.8 231 km SE of Chignik, Alaska
- 2.5 220 km SE of Chignik, Alaska
- 2.6 244 km SE of Chignik, Alaska
- 2.7 206 km SE of Chignik, Alaska
- 3.0 239 km SE of Chignik, Alaska
- 2.3 216 km SE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.8 201 km SE of Perryville, Alaska
- 4.4 209 km SE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.5 170 km SE of Chignik, Alaska
- 2.8 208 km SE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.5 204 km SE of Perryville, Alaska
- 2.5 212 km SE of Chignik, Alaska
- 4.2 223 km SE of Chignik, Alaska
- 2.6 187 km SE of Chignik, Alaska
- 3.0 190 km SE of Chignik, 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.