QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3ml

79 km SSE of Adak, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.3 earthquake was recorded 79 km SSE of Adak, Alaska at 10:46 UTC on 2026-10-18, 12 km deep.

· 12 km deep · released about 85 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N
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 2.3 (ml)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2 days ago

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 16 km (10 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 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 6.2 on 2025-03-21 — about 710,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 115 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.3 46 km SSW of Adak, Alaska · 47 km NW of this epicentre
  2. 7.1 75 km S of Adak, Alaska · 25 km W of this epicentre
  3. 7.0 101 km S of Adak, Alaska · 22 km S of this epicentre
  4. 6.9 61 km SSW of Adak, Alaska · 38 km WNW of this epicentre
  5. 6.8 90 km SSW of Adak, Alaska · 44 km WSW 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 51.1790, -176.3700. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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.

On USGS

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