Earthquake near Nikiski, AK

USGS: 19 km WNW of Salamatof, Alaska

5:50 pm AKDT, Sep 27, 2026 · 2026-09-28 01:50 UTC · 81 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

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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: 5:50 pm AKDT on 27 September 2026 (2026-09-28 01:50 UTC)
Where: 19 km (12 mi) W of Nikiski, AK · earthquakes near Nikiski
Magnitude: M 1.7 (ml)
Depth: 81 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Kenai Peninsula Borough, 51 km SW
Nearest mapped fault: Middle Ground Shoal anticline (Cook Inlet folds), 5 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 4 days ago · we first saw it 4 days ago

A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 19 km (12 mi) W of Nikiski, AK, at 5:50 pm AKDT on 27 September 2026 (01:50 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Kenai.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 5.2 on 2017-05-30 — about 180,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

6.7 6 km WNW of Nikiski, Alaska · 14 km ENE of this epicentre Jun 18, 1934
6.4 19 km SSE of Tyonek, Alaska · 40 km NE of this epicentre Jul 30, 1941
5.7 19 km NNW of Nikiski, Alaska · 25 km NE of this epicentre Oct 23, 1936
5.4 19 km NE of Nikiski, Alaska · 36 km ENE of this epicentre Apr 25, 1994
5.2 17 km WNW of Clam Gulch, Alaska · 45 km S of this epicentre Apr 18, 1999

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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 60.6850, -151.6390. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction from the epicentre
Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK	51 km (32 mi)	SW	earthquakes near Kenai Peninsula Borough

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1.4 33 km W of Kalifornsky, Alaska 09:05 UTC
1.9 20 km WSW of Tyonek, Alaska 11:32 UTC
2.1 20 km W of Cohoe, Alaska 18:15 UTC
2.8 45 km W of Salamatof, Alaska 03:48 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.

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.