QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

29 km SW of Covenant Life, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 29 km SW of Covenant Life, Alaska, at 9:50 am AKST on 9 February 2025 (18:50 UTC), 2.1 km deep.

· 2.1 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Haines Borough 49 kmSkagway Municipality 70 kmHoonah-Angoon Census Area 97 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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
2.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Haines Borough, 49 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 619 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 11 km (7 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 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 5.3 on 2023-10-28 — about 350,000 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 6.1 77 km SW of Covenant Life, Alaska · 48 km SW of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 41 km SSW of Covenant Life, Alaska · 15 km S of this epicentre
  3. 5.7 59 km WSW of Mosquito Lake, Alaska · 46 km WNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.5 27 km WSW of Covenant Life, Alaska · 11 km NNW of this epicentre
  5. 5.2 63 km SW of Covenant Life, Alaska · 34 km SSW 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 59.2348, -136.3993. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Haines Borough, AK 49 km (31 mi) ESE earthquakes near Haines Borough
Skagway Municipality, AK 70 km (44 mi) ENE earthquakes near Skagway Municipality
Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK 97 km (60 mi) SSE earthquakes near Hoonah-Angoon Census Area

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.2 40 km WSW of Covenant Life, Alaska
  2. 2.2 38 km WSW of Covenant Life, Alaska
  3. 2.0 3 km NNW of Klukwan, Alaska
  4. 2.0 35 km SW of Covenant Life, Alaska
  5. 3.1 48 km SSW of Covenant Life, Alaska
  6. 2.8 48 km SSW of Covenant Life, Alaska
  7. 2.7 33 km WSW of Mosquito Lake, Alaska
  8. 3.0 32 km SSW of Covenant Life, Alaska
  9. 2.9 40 km WSW of Haines, Alaska
  10. 2.9 41 km W of Covenant Life, Alaska
  11. 3.2 41 km W of Mosquito Lake, Alaska
  12. 2.9 73 km SSW of Covenant Life, Alaska
  13. 2.0 70 km SW of Covenant Life, Alaska
  14. 1.8 59 km SSW of Covenant Life, Alaska
  15. 2.4 64 km SW of Covenant Life, 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.