QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

153 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 153 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska at 07:42 UTC on 2025-12-23, 11 km deep.

· 11 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Yakutat City and Borough 111 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
11 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Yakutat City and Borough, 111 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 258 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 4 km (2 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 4.8 on 2023-08-06 — about 63,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.1 109 km E of McCarthy, Alaska · 47 km NW of this epicentre
  2. 5.7 152 km E of McCarthy, Alaska · 37 km N of this epicentre
  3. 5.3 136 km E of McCarthy, Alaska · 48 km N of this epicentre
  4. 5.1 145 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska · 19 km N of this epicentre
  5. 5.1 144 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska · 18 km NNW 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 61.0140, -140.1990. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Yakutat City and Borough, AK 111 km (69 mi) S earthquakes near Yakutat City and Borough

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 118 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  2. 1.8 117 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  3. 2.0 116 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  4. 1.9 120 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  5. 2.0 119 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  6. 1.8 117 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  7. 1.6 136 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  8. 1.7 133 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  9. 1.8 136 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  10. 1.7 137 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  11. 3.9 139 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  12. 1.6 118 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  13. 1.8 120 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  14. 2.3 123 km N of Yakutat, Alaska
  15. 1.6 121 km N 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.