Earthquake near Tanaina, AK

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 21 km (13 mi) from the epicentre. In Tanaina, 7 km away, the estimate is intensity III (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Likely felt in: Tanaina 7 km, intensity III · Fishhook 10 km, intensity II · Palmer 17 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 120 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 130,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 89,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 7.9× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 120 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 2020-11-07 — about 11,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.9 23 km NE of Willow, Alaska · 32 km NW of this epicentre Jan 1, 1975
2. 5.8 14 km NNE of Fishhook, Alaska · 24 km NE of this epicentre Aug 14, 1984
3. 5.6 11 km NW of Big Lake, Alaska · 41 km WSW of this epicentre Oct 7, 1966
4. 5.5 2 km ENE of Eagle River, Alaska · 40 km S of this epicentre May 11, 1965
5. 5.3 3 km NNE of Houston, Alaska · 21 km W of this epicentre Sep 1, 1966

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 61.6810, -149.3810. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 13 km ENE of Willow, Alaska 05:56 UTC
2. 2.1 7 km NW of Knik-Fairview, Alaska 17:17 UTC
3. 1.6 20 km ESE of Susitna North, Alaska 22:56 UTC
4. 2.4 19 km NNE of Willow, Alaska 10:28 UTC
5. 1.6 11 km E of Willow, Alaska 02:18 UTC
6. 1.7 16 km N of Fishhook, Alaska 18:52 UTC
7. 2.1 3 km E of Big Lake, Alaska 14:27 UTC
8. 1.9 7 km NW of Houston, Alaska 12:42 UTC
9. 2.1 19 km SSW of Knik River, Alaska 10:36 UTC
10. 1.9 4 km E of Big Lake, Alaska 04:40 UTC
11. 1.6 12 km N of Meadow Lakes, Alaska 00:39 UTC
12. 2.2 17 km SSE of Susitna North, Alaska 07:01 UTC
13. 2.0 1 km N of Houston, Alaska 15:56 UTC
14. 1.8 25 km NNW of Sutton-Alpine, Alaska 13:33 UTC
15. 2.0 18 km N of Meadow Lakes, Alaska 11:40 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 03:24 UTC. 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.

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.