Earthquake near Gateway, AK

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. In Gateway, 13 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Wasilla, Knik-Fairview, Lakes, Butte, Palmer, Tanaina.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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 2018-12-09 — about 45,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.8 14 km NNE of Fishhook, Alaska · 46 km NNE of this epicentre Aug 14, 1984
2. 5.6 11 km NW of Big Lake, Alaska · 44 km WNW of this epicentre Oct 7, 1966
3. 5.5 2 km ENE of Eagle River, Alaska · 18 km SW of this epicentre May 11, 1965
4. 5.3 3 km NNE of Houston, Alaska · 33 km NW of this epicentre Sep 1, 1966
5. 5.3 8 km NW of Knik-Fairview, Alaska · 24 km WNW of this epicentre May 6, 1997

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 61.4613, -149.3277. 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. 1.5 14 km ENE of Willow, Alaska 06:55 UTC
2. 1.7 8 km SE of Eagle River, Alaska 07:35 UTC
3. 2.0 16 km E of Willow, Alaska 05:55 UTC
4. 2.5 16 km E of Eagle River, Alaska 09:08 UTC
5. 1.8 13 km SSW of Gateway, Alaska 23:22 UTC
6. 2.5 12 km SSW of Gateway, Alaska 11:21 UTC
7. 2.1 4 km NE of Houston, Alaska 15:42 UTC
8. 2.1 9 km N of Houston, Alaska 22:28 UTC
9. 2.0 13 km N of Meadow Lakes, Alaska 19:45 UTC
10. 1.7 14 km NNE of Houston, Alaska 07:27 UTC
11. 1.6 24 km ENE of Willow, Alaska 09:07 UTC
12. 2.2 6 km ENE of Big Lake, Alaska 05:36 UTC
13. 2.5 5 km NNW of Tanaina, Alaska 04:14 UTC
14. 1.6 16 km ENE of Willow, Alaska 08:20 UTC
15. 1.9 18 km WNW of Fishhook, Alaska 04:19 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 22:57 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.