Earthquake near Big Lake, AK

A magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 48 km (30 mi) WNW of Big Lake, AK, at 5:07 pm AKDT on 27 September 2026 (01:07 UTC). 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS. This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

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 6.0 on 2025-11-27 — about 1,000,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 21 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.9 27 km SE of Skwentna, Alaska · 24 km NNW of this epicentre Nov 3, 1943
2. 5.8 27 km N of Beluga, Alaska · 27 km SSW of this epicentre Jun 19, 1933
3. 5.8 20 km ENE of Beluga, Alaska · 42 km S of this epicentre Dec 4, 2012
4. 5.7 19 km E of Skwentna, Alaska · 42 km NNW of this epicentre Nov 3, 1970
5. 5.6 11 km NW of Big Lake, Alaska · 38 km E of this epicentre Oct 7, 1966

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 61.6140, -150.8350. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 23 km E of Skwentna, Alaska 17:18 UTC
2. 2.1 8 km NNE of Susitna, Alaska 23:05 UTC
3. 1.7 31 km WNW of Willow, Alaska 01:16 UTC
4. 2.4 24 km ENE of Beluga, Alaska 17:25 UTC
5. 0.7 44 km NNW of Beluga, Alaska 08:08 UTC
6. 0.6 43 km NNW of Beluga, Alaska 10:37 UTC
7. 1.3 34 km E of Skwentna, Alaska 04:49 UTC
8. 2.7 23 km SSW of Susitna, Alaska 21:22 UTC
9. 1.9 42 km W of Susitna, Alaska 16:39 UTC
10. 2.5 23 km SSW of Susitna, Alaska 09:29 UTC
11. 1.2 35 km W of Susitna, Alaska 08:02 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 01:04 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

Revisions

USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.

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.