Earthquake near Elmendorf Air Force Base, 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 Elmendorf Air Force Base, 22 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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: Girdwood, Eagle River.

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 13 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.0 21 km N of Whittier, Alaska · 39 km ESE of this epicentre Sep 14, 1932
2. 5.7 13 km S of Girdwood, Alaska · 35 km SSE of this epicentre Feb 19, 1928
3. 5.6 17 km W of Whittier, Alaska · 45 km SSE of this epicentre Jan 27, 1931
4. 5.5 2 km ENE of Eagle River, Alaska · 25 km NNW of this epicentre May 11, 1965
5. 5.5 26 km SSW of Anchorage, Alaska · 44 km WSW of this epicentre May 24, 1995

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 61.1235, -149.3395. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 21 km N of Moose Pass, Alaska 09:10 UTC
2. 1.7 11 km SE of Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska 00:35 UTC
3. 1.5 5 km SE of Sunrise, Alaska 10:28 UTC
4. 2.2 7 km SE of Eagle River, Alaska 06:28 UTC
5. 1.8 6 km WSW of Butte, Alaska 10:03 UTC
6. 2.8 15 km NNW of Hope, Alaska 06:18 UTC
7. 1.6 21 km N of Moose Pass, Alaska 20:06 UTC
8. 2.8 19 km S of Sunrise, Alaska 07:48 UTC
9. 1.5 25 km S of Knik River, Alaska 10:29 UTC
10. 2.6 8 km SSE of Knik, Alaska 03:06 UTC
11. 1.6 10 km NNW of Hope, Alaska 18:19 UTC
12. 1.6 17 km S of Girdwood, Alaska 02:21 UTC
13. 1.6 19 km S of Knik River, Alaska 22:47 UTC
14. 1.6 15 km SSW of Sunrise, Alaska 18:36 UTC
15. 2.0 3 km NNW of Sunrise, Alaska 16:19 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:43 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.