QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1ml

160 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded 160 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska at 04:02 UTC on 2021-03-05, 21 km deep.

· 21 km deep · released about 1,300 lb of TNT

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

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2002 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 36 km (22 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 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.4× 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 2020-10-31 — about 250 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.5 183 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska · 46 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 113 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska · 47 km NW 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 54.2927, -158.7772. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 159 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  2. 2.2 149 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  3. 3.0 157 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  4. 2.6 162 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  5. 4.1 152 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  6. 4.3 156 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  7. 3.0 142 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  8. 2.8 128 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  9. 2.5 138 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  10. 2.2 138 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  11. 2.2 161 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  12. 2.4 146 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  13. 2.5 125 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  14. 4.3 150 km SE of Sand Point, Alaska
  15. 3.2 176 km SE of Sand Point, 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.