QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

112 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 112 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska at 16:08 UTC on 2024-02-09, 8.6 km deep.

· 8.6 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Yakutat City and Borough 98 km
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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
8.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Yakutat City and Borough, 98 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 988 days ago

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 5 km (3 mi) from the epicentre. 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 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 4.0 on 2020-01-22 — about 5,600 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 7.1 113 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska · 8 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 115 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska · 50 km SSE of this epicentre
  3. 5.7 126 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska · 41 km ESE of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 127 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska · 27 km E of this epicentre
  5. 5.0 132 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska · 31 km ESE 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 60.6111, -141.7285. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Yakutat City and Borough, AK 98 km (61 mi) SE earthquakes near Yakutat City and 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. 1.6 137 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  2. 1.5 131 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska
  3. 1.5 133 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska
  4. 1.5 117 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska
  5. 1.6 132 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  6. 2.4 115 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  7. 2.2 131 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  8. 1.7 131 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska
  9. 1.6 128 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska
  10. 2.0 115 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska
  11. 1.7 113 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  12. 1.5 141 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska
  13. 1.7 133 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  14. 1.5 135 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  15. 1.7 127 km NW of Yakutat, 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.