QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.1mb

204 km WSW of Adak, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 4.1 earthquake was recorded 204 km WSW of Adak, Alaska at 11:55 UTC on 2021-01-01, 35 km deep.

· 35 km deep · released about 21 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 4.1 (mb)
Depth
35 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2072 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 99 km (62 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 21 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 7,900× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.1 about 21 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 45× 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 6.1 on 2020-01-26 — about 1,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 181 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.2 238 km WSW of Adak, Alaska · 42 km SW of this epicentre
  2. 7.2 162 km WSW of Adak, Alaska · 44 km E of this epicentre
  3. 7.2 207 km WSW of Adak, Alaska · 10 km S of this epicentre
  4. 6.9 203 km WSW of Adak, Alaska · 11 km SSE of this epicentre
  5. 6.9 231 km WSW of Adak, Alaska · 29 km SW 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 51.4473, -179.5022. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska
  2. 1.5 169 km W of Adak, Alaska
  3. 2.9 172 km W of Adak, Alaska
  4. 2.1 184 km WSW of Adak, Alaska
  5. 3.4 202 km WSW of Adak, Alaska
  6. 2.0 181 km WSW of Adak, Alaska
  7. 1.8 166 km W of Adak, Alaska
  8. 1.7 176 km WSW of Adak, Alaska
  9. 1.9 165 km WSW of Adak, Alaska
  10. 2.0 192 km WSW of Adak, Alaska
  11. 1.6 169 km WSW of Adak, Alaska
  12. 3.3 229 km WSW of Adak, Alaska
  13. 2.7 212 km WSW of Adak, Alaska
  14. 2.2 203 km WSW of Adak, AK
  15. 3.9 224 km WSW 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.