Earthquake near Sand Point, AK

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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Sand Point, 48 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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 21 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 710,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 500,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 45× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 21 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 5.9 on 2020-10-06 — about 1,000,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 35 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.4 54 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 32 km ENE of this epicentre May 31, 1917
2. 6.9 17 km S of Sand Point, Alaska · 30 km N of this epicentre May 13, 1993
3. 6.6 72 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 49 km E of this epicentre Oct 16, 1932
4. 6.3 68 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 47 km E of this epicentre Oct 30, 1932
5. 6.2 35 km S of Sand Point, Alaska · 15 km NW of this epicentre May 25, 1993

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 54.9100, -160.3682. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.0 53 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska 18:56 UTC
2. 2.9 33 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska 18:04 UTC
3. 2.8 33 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska 10:45 UTC
4. 2.0 9 km E of Sand Point, Alaska 21:18 UTC
5. 1.7 6 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 18:09 UTC
6. 2.8 82 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 23:14 UTC
7. 2.2 90 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 22:55 UTC
8. 1.8 13 km S of Sand Point, Alaska 12:06 UTC
9. 1.9 59 km S of Sand Point, Alaska 13:28 UTC
10. 1.7 60 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska 10:21 UTC
11. 2.0 53 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 09:46 UTC
12. 1.5 34 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 01:38 UTC
13. 3.1 23 km WSW of Sand Point, Alaska 11:38 UTC
14. 2.0 58 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 04:06 UTC
15. 1.8 62 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 13:00 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 00:51 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.