Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 3.0ml
62 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.0 (ml)
- Depth
- 5.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, 79 km E
- Nearest mapped fault
- Fairweather fault system, under 1 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 3 hours ago
A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 62 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska at 16:30 UTC on 2026-10-04. This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 950 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 350,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11,000× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.0 about 950 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 2019-12-18 — about 1,400 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.8 22 km W of Elfin Cove, Alaska · 44 km SE of this epicentre
- 6.1 62 km W of Elfin Cove, Alaska · 43 km SSW of this epicentre
- 6.1 77 km SW of Covenant Life, Alaska · 47 km NNE of this epicentre
- 6.0 40 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska · 25 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.6 34 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska · 29 km SE 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 58.5100, -137.2350. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK | 79 km (49 mi) | E | earthquakes near Hoonah-Angoon Census Area |
| Haines Borough, AK | 116 km (72 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Haines Borough |
| Skagway Municipality, AK | 159 km (99 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Skagway Municipality |
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 | 63 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska | 62 km WNW of Elfin Cove, Alaska | |
| longitude | -137.24 | -137.24 | |
| latitude | 58.51 | 58.51 | |
| magnitude | 2.9 | 3 |
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.