QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5ml

103 km E of Chignik, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 3.5 earthquake was recorded 103 km E of Chignik, Alaska at 20:13 UTC on 2021-12-27, 2.1 km deep.

· 2.1 km deep · released about 2.7 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N
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 3.5 (ml)
Depth
2.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1713 days ago

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 63 km (39 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 2.7 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 63,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.7 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.6× 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 6.9 on 2021-10-11 — about 130,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 17 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.8 117 km SSE of Ugashik, Alaska · 26 km NE of this epicentre
  2. 6.5 60 km ENE of Chignik, Alaska · 46 km W of this epicentre
  3. 6.4 77 km ESE of Chignik, Alaska · 44 km SW of this epicentre
  4. 6.4 104 km SSE of Ugashik, Alaska · 23 km N of this epicentre
  5. 6.3 112 km E of Chignik, Alaska · 30 km SSE 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 56.4451, -156.7501. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 106 km SE of Ugashik, Alaska
  2. 2.4 93 km ESE of Chignik, Alaska
  3. 3.9 106 km E of Chignik, Alaska
  4. 2.6 117 km E of Chignik, Alaska
  5. 2.9 118 km E of Chignik, Alaska
  6. 2.0 117 km E of Chignik, Alaska
  7. 2.4 118 km E of Chignik, Alaska
  8. 2.8 117 km E of Chignik, Alaska
  9. 5.4 119 km E of Chignik, Alaska
  10. 1.7 94 km SE of Ugashik, Alaska
  11. 2.0 100 km E of Chignik, Alaska
  12. 2.0 117 km E of Chignik, Alaska
  13. 2.3 124 km E of Chignik, Alaska
  14. 2.0 Alaska Peninsula
  15. 3.0 94 km ESE 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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.