QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3ml

179 km SSE of Adak, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded 179 km SSE of Adak, Alaska at 21:50 UTC on 2020-10-08, 30 km deep.

· 30 km deep · released about 1.3 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 3.3 (ml)
Depth
30 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest mapped fault
Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone, 23 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2156 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 42 km (26 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 1.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.8× 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 5.0 on 2016-06-29 — about 350 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.3 159 km SSE of Adak, Alaska · 39 km NE of this epicentre
  2. 6.3 204 km SSE of Adak, Alaska · 41 km ESE of this epicentre
  3. 5.7 Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska · 24 km SW of this epicentre
  4. 5.5 187 km SSE of Adak, Alaska · 9 km SSW of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 201 km SSE of Adak, Alaska · 24 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 50.3092, -176.0173. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 158 km S of Adak, Alaska
  2. 1.8 167 km S of Adak, Alaska
  3. 2.9 181 km S of Adak, Alaska
  4. 3.8 175 km S of Adak, Alaska
  5. 2.3 184 km SSE of Adak, Alaska
  6. 2.5 168 km S of Adak, Alaska
  7. 2.5 172 km SSE of Adak, Alaska
  8. 2.6 184 km S of Adak, Alaska
  9. 3.9 191 km S of Adak, Alaska
  10. 2.5 181 km S of Adak, Alaska
  11. 2.6 175 km S of Adak, Alaska
  12. 2.5 200 km S of Adak, Alaska
  13. 2.8 171 km S of Adak, Alaska
  14. 1.9 146 km SSE of Adak, Alaska
  15. 2.6 175 km S of Adak, 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.