Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.7ml
Earthquake near North Pole, AK
USGS: 5 km NNW of North Pole, Alaska
- When
- 4:33 pm AKDT on 1 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 6 km (4 mi) NNW of North Pole, AK · earthquakes near North Pole
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (ml)
- Depth
- 4.3 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Fairbanks North Star Borough, 45 km ESE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Atsaksovluk fault, 18 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 24 hours ago
A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 6 km (4 mi) NNW of North Pole, AK, at 4:33 pm AKDT on 1 October 2026 (00:33 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Badger, Fairbanks, Farmers Loop, College, Eielson Air Force Base, Ester.
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 5.3 on 2024-01-19 — about 250,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.1 Central Alaska · 33 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.7 15 km SSW of Badger, Alaska · 19 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.5 3 km ESE of Farmers Loop, Alaska · 16 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.5 10 km SSW of Badger, Alaska · 15 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.3 6 km NW of Farmers Loop, Alaska · 25 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 64.8010, -147.3930. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK | 45 km (28 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Fairbanks North Star 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 7 km ENE of Fox, Alaska
- 1.0 8 km ENE of Badger, Alaska
- 0.7 12 km SSW of South Van Horn, Alaska
- 0.9 7 km N of North Pole, Alaska
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 | 6 km N of North Pole, Alaska | 5 km NNW of North Pole, Alaska | |
| longitude | -147.35 | -147.39 | |
| latitude | 64.81 | 64.8 | |
| depth | 1.4 | 4.3 | |
| 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.