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 49 km (30 mi) from the epicentre. In Sterling, 9 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 9 km, intensity II · Soldotna 12 km, intensity II · Kenai 25 km, intensity II · Kalifornsky 25 km, intensity II · Nikiski 35 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.4 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 32,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.7 about 5.4 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 11× 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 4.7 on 2019-07-03 — about 32 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.8 24 km ENE of Sterling, Alaska · 32 km NE of this epicentre Oct 3, 1954
2. 6.7 6 km WNW of Nikiski, Alaska · 41 km NW of this epicentre Jun 18, 1934
3. 6.4 19 km SSE of Tyonek, Alaska · 49 km NNW of this epicentre Jul 30, 1941
4. 6.0 31 km S of Funny River, Alaska · 29 km SSE of this epicentre Oct 24, 1937
5. 5.4 19 km NE of Nikiski, Alaska · 40 km NNW of this epicentre Apr 25, 1994

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 60.4678, -150.8393. 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. 2.4 10 km S of Funny River, Alaska 13:44 UTC
2. 1.7 18 km SSE of Clam Gulch, Alaska 09:16 UTC
3. 1.6 25 km SSE of Point Possession, Alaska 23:39 UTC
4. 2.1 10 km S of Point Possession, Alaska 16:13 UTC
5. 1.5 5 km NNE of Clam Gulch, Alaska 09:52 UTC
6. 3.3 16 km SSE of Funny River, Alaska 03:02 UTC
7. 3.4 20 km S of Funny River, Alaska 03:02 UTC
8. 1.5 4 km NNW of Kalifornsky, Alaska 21:40 UTC
9. 2.4 26 km ESE of Clam Gulch, Alaska 03:03 UTC
10. 1.7 5 km NW of Nikiski, Alaska 00:25 UTC
11. 1.7 5 km ENE of Kasilof, Alaska 15:50 UTC
12. 1.7 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska 04:07 UTC
13. 2.0 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska 13:50 UTC
14. 3.1 10 km ESE of Nikiski, Alaska 13:24 UTC
15. 1.5 19 km SSW of Point Possession, Alaska 05:53 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:19 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.