Earthquake near Meadow Lakes, 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 22 km (14 mi) from the epicentre. In Meadow Lakes, 42 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: Susitna North 19 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.4× 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 2020-11-26 — about 180 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.9 23 km NE of Willow, Alaska · 9 km SSE of this epicentre Jan 1, 1975
2. 5.8 37 km ENE of Susitna North, Alaska · 47 km NE of this epicentre Jul 3, 1929
3. 5.8 14 km NNE of Fishhook, Alaska · 40 km ESE of this epicentre Aug 14, 1984
4. 5.6 11 km NW of Big Lake, Alaska · 48 km SSW of this epicentre Oct 7, 1966
5. 5.4 25 km NNW of Willow, Alaska · 17 km W of this epicentre May 10, 1962

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 61.9875, -149.8061. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.8 12 km E of Susitna North, Alaska 20:38 UTC
2. 1.9 4 km ESE of Willow, Alaska 23:16 UTC
3. 1.6 25 km SE of Susitna North, Alaska 11:13 UTC
4. 1.6 4 km N of Big Lake, Alaska 18:50 UTC
5. 1.5 Southern Alaska 17:03 UTC
6. 1.6 7 km NE of Big Lake, Alaska 08:32 UTC
7. 1.8 0 km ESE of Willow, Alaska 01:05 UTC
8. 1.7 8 km NNW of Big Lake, Alaska 20:37 UTC
9. 2.0 22 km ESE of Susitna North, Alaska 01:33 UTC
10. 1.6 16 km NNW of Meadow Lakes, Alaska 12:57 UTC
11. 1.5 15 km NE of Susitna, Alaska 00:30 UTC
12. 2.1 5 km NE of Meadow Lakes, Alaska 04:10 UTC
13. 1.5 10 km WNW of Susitna North, Alaska 06:56 UTC
14. 2.5 25 km ESE of Susitna North, Alaska 12:59 UTC
15. 1.5 21 km NE of Susitna North, Alaska 00:25 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 12:53 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.