Earthquake near Sand Point, AK

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 71 km (44 mi) from the epicentre. In Sand Point, 50 km away, the estimate is intensity II (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: Sand Point 50 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 22,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 7.6 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 16× 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 5.6 on 2020-07-29 — about 500 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 34 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.4 54 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 30 km ENE of this epicentre May 31, 1917
2. 6.9 17 km S of Sand Point, Alaska · 32 km NNW of this epicentre May 13, 1993
3. 6.6 72 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 46 km E of this epicentre Oct 16, 1932
4. 6.6 85 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 48 km ESE of this epicentre Oct 9, 1985
5. 6.3 68 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 44 km E of this epicentre Oct 30, 1932

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 54.9020, -160.3166. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 4.7 63 km S of Sand Point, Alaska 07:00 UTC
2. 2.1 56 km S of Sand Point, Alaska 06:35 UTC
3. 2.3 76 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 05:26 UTC
4. 2.3 59 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska 03:49 UTC
5. 4.1 62 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska 02:39 UTC
6. 1.8 50 km S of Sand Point, Alaska 01:46 UTC
7. 2.7 54 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 01:20 UTC
8. 2.2 56 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 01:15 UTC
9. 1.8 Alaska Peninsula 23:31 UTC
10. 1.7 54 km S of Sand Point, Alaska 22:28 UTC
11. 1.6 54 km S of Sand Point, Alaska 21:37 UTC
12. 1.7 64 km S of Sand Point, Alaska 20:50 UTC
13. 1.7 50 km S of Sand Point, Alaska 19:08 UTC
14. 1.6 53 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 18:16 UTC
15. 1.7 54 km SSE of Sand Point, Alaska 15:13 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 23:12 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

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.