Earthquake near Palmer, AK

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 112 km (70 mi) from the epicentre. In Palmer, 45 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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: Sutton-Alpine 36 km, intensity III · Lazy Mountain 36 km, intensity III · Butte 41 km, intensity III · Palmer 45 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 30 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 5,600× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 250× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 4.2 about 30 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 63× 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 4.6 on 2018-01-27 — about 4 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.8 31 km SSW of Glacier View, Alaska · 26 km ESE of this epicentre May 4, 1934
2. 6.4 23 km S of Glacier View, Alaska · 32 km E of this epicentre Apr 3, 1964
3. 6.4 37 km SSE of Glacier View, Alaska · 47 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 20, 1964
4. 5.9 15 km N of Glacier View, Alaska · 49 km NE of this epicentre Aug 2, 1934
5. 5.9 42 km S of Glacier View, Alaska · 40 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 21, 1964

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 61.5965, -148.2599. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 63 km S of Glacier View, Alaska 13:23 UTC
2. 1.5 11 km SSW of Glacier View, Alaska 18:13 UTC
3. 1.8 11 km SSW of Glacier View, Alaska 17:56 UTC
4. 2.4 23 km N of Chickaloon, Alaska 14:31 UTC
5. 1.5 31 km SE of Chickaloon, Alaska 04:54 UTC
6. 1.6 19 km NW of Glacier View, Alaska 12:00 UTC
7. 1.6 26 km SW of Glacier View, Alaska 10:44 UTC
8. 1.6 24 km SSW of Glacier View, Alaska 11:26 UTC
9. 1.6 26 km SW of Glacier View, Alaska 00:40 UTC
10. 1.6 44 km ESE of Knik River, Alaska 15:44 UTC
11. 1.8 52 km S of Glacier View, Alaska 02:28 UTC
12. 1.5 43 km SSW of Glacier View, Alaska 04:14 UTC
13. 1.5 61 km S of Glacier View, Alaska 12:50 UTC
14. 2.3 30 km SW of Glacier View, Alaska 21:12 UTC
15. 1.5 24 km SE of Chickaloon, Alaska 15:01 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 14:32 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.