Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.7ml
Earthquake near Salcha, AK
USGS: 23 km ENE of Harding-Birch Lakes, Alaska
- When
- 12:07 am AKDT on 30 September 2026 ()
- Where
- 39 km (24 mi) ESE of Salcha, AK · earthquakes near Salcha
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (ml)
- Depth
- 4.6 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Fairbanks North Star Borough, 33 km NNW
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3 days ago
A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 39 km (24 mi) ESE of Salcha, AK, at 12:07 am AKDT on 30 September 2026 (08:07 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
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
No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 7.1 Central Alaska · 40 km NW 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 64.4240, -146.1220. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK | 33 km (20 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Fairbanks North Star Borough |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
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.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| location | 24 km ENE of Harding-Birch Lakes, Alaska | 23 km ENE of Harding-Birch Lakes, Alaska | |
| longitude | -146.11 | -146.12 | |
| latitude | 64.43 | 64.42 | |
| depth | 3.4 | 4.6 | |
| magnitude | 1.4 | 1.7 |
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.