QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

112 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 112 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska at 20:15 UTC on 2025-11-21, 15 km deep.

· 15 km deep · released about 13 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Yakutat City and Borough 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
15 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Yakutat City and Borough, 97 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 344 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 13 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 830,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 74× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 13 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 4.0 on 2020-01-22 — about 2,300 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 7.1 113 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska · 8 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 115 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska · 49 km SSE of this epicentre
  3. 5.7 126 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska · 41 km ESE of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 127 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska · 26 km E of this epicentre
  5. 5.0 132 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska · 31 km ESE 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 60.6089, -141.7160. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Yakutat City and Borough, AK 97 km (60 mi) SE earthquakes near Yakutat City and Borough

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 133 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  2. 2.1 133 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  3. 1.5 133 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  4. 1.8 134 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  5. 1.9 134 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  6. 2.0 131 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  7. 2.2 134 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  8. 1.5 130 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  9. 1.6 137 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska
  10. 1.7 135 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  11. 1.8 133 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  12. 2.4 136 km SE of McCarthy, Alaska
  13. 1.8 138 km WNW of Yakutat, Alaska
  14. 2.0 121 km NW of Yakutat, Alaska
  15. 1.6 115 km NW of Yakutat, 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.