Earthquake near Sterling, 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 51 km (32 mi) from the epicentre. In Sterling, 36 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: Sterling 36 km, intensity II · Nikiski 42 km, intensity II · Soldotna 48 km, intensity II · Kenai 49 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.8 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 45,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.6 about 3.8 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 7.9× 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 4.5 on 2018-10-15 — about 22 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.8 Southern Alaska · 39 km NW of this epicentre Apr 27, 1933
2. 6.8 4 km NE of Beluga, Alaska · 43 km NNW of this epicentre Oct 23, 1936
3. 6.8 24 km ENE of Sterling, Alaska · 24 km SSE of this epicentre Oct 3, 1954
4. 6.7 6 km WNW of Nikiski, Alaska · 46 km WSW of this epicentre Jun 18, 1934
5. 6.4 19 km SSE of Tyonek, Alaska · 26 km WNW of this epicentre Jul 30, 1941

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 60.8487, -150.5885. 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. 1.6 3 km WSW of Point Possession, Alaska 00:18 UTC
2. 1.8 15 km ESE of Beluga, Alaska 08:27 UTC
3. 1.5 16 km WSW of Point Possession, Alaska 14:03 UTC
4. 1.7 27 km NE of Sterling, Alaska 07:25 UTC
5. 2.2 29 km NW of Cooper Landing, Alaska 05:58 UTC
6. 1.7 19 km NE of Beluga, Alaska 15:51 UTC
7. 1.8 Southern Alaska 10:43 UTC
8. 1.5 15 km ENE of Beluga, Alaska 14:18 UTC
9. 1.9 7 km ESE of Beluga, Alaska 19:54 UTC
10. 1.5 13 km NW of Point Possession, Alaska 03:03 UTC
11. 2.1 30 km NW of Cooper Landing, Alaska 03:31 UTC
12. 2.0 13 km S of Point Possession, Alaska 07:16 UTC
13. 1.9 30 km NNW of Cooper Landing, Alaska 15:10 UTC
14. 1.8 21 km NE of Point Possession, Alaska 11:22 UTC
15. 1.9 13 km ENE of Point Possession, Alaska 04:32 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:15 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.