QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.0ml

123 km S of Sand Point, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 123 km S of Sand Point, Alaska, at 7:01 pm AKST on 17 November 2023 (04:01 UTC), 22 km deep.

· 22 km deep · released about 30 lb of TNT

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Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 2.0 (ml)
Depth
22 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aleutians East Borough, 146 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1075 days ago

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 30 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 350,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 32× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 30 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 7.2 on 2023-07-16 — about 63,000,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 11 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 101 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska · 44 km NW of this epicentre
  2. 6.2 141 km SSE of King Cove, Alaska · 46 km SW of this epicentre
  3. 5.9 131 km S of Sand Point, Alaska · 13 km SE of this epicentre
  4. 5.7 100 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska · 42 km NW of this epicentre
  5. 5.6 84 km S of Sand Point, Alaska · 42 km NNW of this epicentre

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 54.2308, -160.5545. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aleutians East Borough, AK 146 km (91 mi) NW earthquakes near Aleutians East Borough

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 115 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  2. 1.7 82 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  3. 3.1 111 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska
  4. 1.9 92 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska
  5. 1.8 106 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  6. 2.2 112 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  7. 2.1 102 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska
  8. 1.7 109 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  9. 2.0 93 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska
  10. 2.1 84 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska
  11. 2.1 108 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska
  12. 2.0 111 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  13. 1.9 86 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska
  14. 2.6 91 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska
  15. 2.2 129 km SE of King Cove, Alaska

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.