146 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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 43 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 5.1 on 2019-02-15 — about 32,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 8.6 The 1946 Unimak Island, Alaska Earthquake · 21 km SW of this epicentre Apr 1, 1946
2. 6.2 172 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska · 36 km SSW of this epicentre Apr 2, 1946
3. 6.1 166 km S of False Pass, Alaska · 45 km SW of this epicentre Oct 14, 1929
4. 6.0 137 km S of False Pass, Alaska · 44 km W of this epicentre May 22, 1988
5. 5.8 112 km SE of False Pass, Alaska · 49 km NNE of this epicentre Feb 24, 1939

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 53.6240, -162.5962. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 3.0 south of Alaska 18:14 UTC
2. 2.0 119 km SE of False Pass, Alaska 13:23 UTC
3. 3.0 125 km S of King Cove, Alaska 01:45 UTC
4. 2.5 146 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 06:11 UTC
5. 2.6 148 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 13:37 UTC
6. 2.0 113 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 06:06 UTC
7. 2.5 131 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 06:00 UTC
8. 2.2 144 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 21:04 UTC
9. 2.8 154 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 17:43 UTC
10. 2.6 134 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 12:58 UTC
11. 2.5 125 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 09:24 UTC
12. 2.3 112 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 13:10 UTC
13. 2.4 147 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 10:39 UTC
14. 3.6 108 km SSE of False Pass, Alaska 11:17 UTC
15. 3.0 157 km S of False Pass, Alaska 13:29 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:17 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.