QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.0ml

217 km S of Sand Point, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 217 km S of Sand Point, Alaska at 21:32 UTC on 2024-08-23, 26 km deep.

· 26 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
26 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest mapped fault
Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone, 22 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 773 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 5.5 on 2020-07-05 — about 180,000 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 5.7 208 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska · 30 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 5.5 241 km S of Sand Point, Alaska · 27 km SSW of this epicentre
  3. 5.5 233 km S of Sand Point, Alaska · 20 km SE of this epicentre
  4. 5.3 232 km SSE of King Cove, Alaska · 35 km WSW of this epicentre
  5. 5.0 188 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska · 38 km NNE 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 53.3947, -160.1871. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.0 203 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  2. 3.2 241 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  3. 2.9 205 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  4. 3.0 250 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  5. 3.1 209 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  6. 2.7 202 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  7. 2.8 219 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  8. 3.0 218 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  9. 3.1 204 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  10. 3.5 249 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  11. 3.2 237 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  12. 3.6 225 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  13. 3.8 231 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  14. 2.5 233 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  15. 2.2 249 km S of Sand Point, 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.