QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

98 km ENE of McCarthy, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 98 km ENE of McCarthy, Alaska at 12:35 UTC on 2024-03-29, 13 km deep.

· 13 km deep · released about 5.4 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest mapped fault
Totschunda fault, 15 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 937 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 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 4.7 on 2023-03-08 — about 63,000 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 6.1 109 km E of McCarthy, Alaska · 41 km SSE of this epicentre
  2. 5.5 87 km ENE of McCarthy, Alaska · 11 km W of this epicentre
  3. 5.4 140 km SSE of Alcan Border, Alaska · 47 km ESE of this epicentre
  4. 5.3 136 km E of McCarthy, Alaska · 44 km ESE of this epicentre
  5. 5.2 130 km SSE of Alcan Border, Alaska · 50 km E 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 61.6171, -141.1188. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 106 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska
  2. 2.5 106 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  3. 1.8 71 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  4. 1.5 91 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  5. 1.7 84 km S of Alcan Border, Alaska
  6. 1.5 117 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska
  7. 1.6 102 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  8. 1.6 101 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  9. 1.6 95 km ENE of McCarthy, Alaska
  10. 3.1 98 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  11. 2.8 125 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  12. 3.3 124 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  13. 1.7 115 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  14. 2.1 118 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  15. 1.7 109 km E of McCarthy, 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.