QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.1ml

55 km WNW of Happy Valley, Alaska

· 112 km deep · released about 43 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kenai Peninsula Borough 37 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 2.1 (ml)
Depth
112 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kenai Peninsula Borough, 37 km NNE
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1 hour ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 43 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 5.1 on 2022-01-21 — about 32,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 24 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 75 km WNW of Ninilchik, Alaska · 26 km NNW of this epicentre
  2. 6.4 52 km ENE of Pedro Bay, Alaska · 36 km SW of this epicentre
  3. 6.2 16 km WNW of Happy Valley, Alaska · 40 km ESE of this epicentre
  4. 6.2 70 km E of Port Alsworth, Alaska · 21 km WNW of this epicentre
  5. 6.1 73 km WNW of Ninilchik, Alaska · 33 km NNW 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 60.0900, -152.6920. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK 37 km (23 mi) NNE earthquakes near Kenai Peninsula 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 changedFromToWhen
longitude-152.69-152.69
latitude60.0960.09
depth112.1111.6
magnitude22.1
location59 km WNW of Happy Valley, Alaska55 km WNW of Happy Valley, Alaska
longitude-152.77-152.69
latitude60.0960.09
depth111.4112.1
magnitude1.92

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.