QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4ml

189 km WSW of Nikolski, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 3.4 earthquake was recorded 189 km WSW of Nikolski, Alaska at 23:06 UTC on 2018-04-12, 36 km deep.

· 36 km deep · released about 1.9 tons of TNT

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Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 3.4 (ml)
Depth
36 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1188 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 45 km (28 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 1.9 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 89,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,800× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.9 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 4× more

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 4.7 on 2017-06-25 — about 89 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 72 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.3 Fox Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska · 40 km W of this epicentre
  2. 6.9 170 km E of Atka, Alaska · 34 km WNW of this epicentre
  3. 6.2 179 km SW of Nikolski, Alaska · 48 km SE of this epicentre
  4. 6.1 185 km ESE of Atka, Alaska · 30 km SW of this epicentre
  5. 6.1 207 km ESE of Atka, Alaska · 44 km S 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 52.0510, -171.2493. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.7 193 km WSW of Nikolski, Alaska
  2. 2.5 172 km SW of Nikolski, Alaska
  3. 3.2 169 km E of Atka, Alaska
  4. 4.0 184 km SW of Nikolski, Alaska
  5. 4.0 196 km ESE of Atka, Alaska
  6. 2.6 171 km SW of Nikolski, Alaska
  7. 2.1 156 km WSW of Nikolski, Alaska
  8. 2.9 175 km ESE of Atka, Alaska
  9. 4.3 199 km SW of Nikolski, Alaska
  10. 2.5 Fox Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska
  11. 3.2 151 km WSW of Nikolski, Alaska
  12. 2.5 177 km SW of Nikolski, Alaska
  13. 2.8 180 km SW of Nikolski, Alaska
  14. 3.6 177 km SW of Nikolski, Alaska
  15. 3.6 176 km SW of Nikolski, 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.

On USGS

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