Earthquake near Meadow Lakes, AK

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 26 km (16 mi) from the epicentre. In Meadow Lakes, 4 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.

Likely felt in: Knik-Fairview 8 km, intensity II · Tanaina 10 km, intensity II · Big Lake 20 km, intensity II · Palmer 26 km, intensity II · Fishhook 26 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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 7.1 on 2018-11-30 — about 2,000,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.9 23 km NE of Willow, Alaska · 36 km NNW of this epicentre Jan 1, 1975
2. 5.8 14 km NNE of Fishhook, Alaska · 40 km NE of this epicentre Aug 14, 1984
3. 5.6 11 km NW of Big Lake, Alaska · 28 km W of this epicentre Oct 7, 1966
4. 5.6 5 km N of Susitna, Alaska · 48 km W of this epicentre Dec 29, 1974
5. 5.5 2 km ENE of Eagle River, Alaska · 29 km S of this epicentre May 11, 1965

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 61.5890, -149.6020. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.2 19 km NNE of Fishhook, Alaska 15:14 UTC
2. 1.7 7 km WNW of Point MacKenzie, Alaska 18:54 UTC
3. 1.5 7 km NW of Eagle River, Alaska 03:01 UTC
4. 2.1 13 km NNW of Fishhook, Alaska 00:35 UTC
5. 1.9 21 km E of Eagle River, Alaska 00:29 UTC
6. 2.3 9 km N of Meadow Lakes, Alaska 22:16 UTC
7. 2.2 19 km WNW of Fishhook, Alaska 22:15 UTC
8. 2.1 4 km S of Houston, Alaska 15:36 UTC
9. 1.9 2 km NNW of Houston, Alaska 22:08 UTC
10. 2.5 12 km N of Meadow Lakes, Alaska 19:24 UTC
11. 1.9 2 km SSE of Knik, Alaska 08:27 UTC
12. 2.0 12 km NE of Willow, Alaska 21:23 UTC
13. 2.8 16 km E of Willow, Alaska 17:14 UTC
14. 2.3 8 km SSW of Big Lake, Alaska 10:09 UTC
15. 1.5 8 km NNW of Knik, Alaska 07:36 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:24 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.