QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.0ml

101 km E of McCarthy, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 101 km E of McCarthy, Alaska at 01:51 UTC on 2025-12-27, 10 km deep.

· 10 km deep · released about 30 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N
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 2.0 (ml)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest mapped fault
Totschunda fault, 15 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 256 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 12 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 30 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 350,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 32× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 30 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 4.9 on 2021-05-09 — about 22,000 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 · 33 km SSE of this epicentre
  2. 5.5 87 km ENE of McCarthy, Alaska · 17 km WNW of this epicentre
  3. 5.4 140 km SSE of Alcan Border, Alaska · 41 km E of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 136 km SSE of Alcan Border, Alaska · 49 km E of this epicentre
  5. 5.3 136 km E of McCarthy, Alaska · 37 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 61.5520, -141.0230. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 104 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska
  2. 1.5 96 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  3. 1.7 77 km ENE of McCarthy, Alaska
  4. 1.7 90 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  5. 1.9 121 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  6. 1.7 86 km ENE of McCarthy, Alaska
  7. 1.5 101 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  8. 1.6 120 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  9. 1.6 116 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska
  10. 2.0 127 km ESE of McCarthy, Alaska
  11. 1.6 79 km ENE of McCarthy, Alaska
  12. 1.6 113 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  13. 1.6 81 km ENE of McCarthy, Alaska
  14. 2.0 108 km E of McCarthy, Alaska
  15. 1.8 119 km ESE of McCarthy, 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.