QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3ml

208 km S of Unalaska, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.3 earthquake was recorded 208 km S of Unalaska, Alaska at 01:41 UTC on 2023-05-09, 10 km deep.

· 10 km deep · released about 85 lb 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 2.3 (ml)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1030 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 17 km (11 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 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 lb of TNT

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 5.2 on 2019-08-03 — about 22,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.0 203 km SSE of Unalaska, Alaska · 38 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 6.5 183 km S of Unalaska, Alaska · 33 km NW of this epicentre
  3. 6.0 221 km S of Unalaska, Alaska · 13 km SSE of this epicentre
  4. 6.0 218 km SE of Nikolski, Alaska · 37 km SW of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 214 km ESE of Nikolski, Alaska · 20 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 52.0248, -166.0049. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 184 km SSE of Unalaska, Alaska
  2. 2.4 204 km SE of Nikolski, Alaska
  3. 2.5 224 km SE of Nikolski, Alaska
  4. 3.1 193 km SSE of Unalaska, Alaska
  5. 2.6 189 km SSE of Unalaska, Alaska
  6. 2.8 199 km SSE of Unalaska, Alaska
  7. 2.6 196 km SE of Nikolski, Alaska
  8. 2.9 197 km S of Unalaska, Alaska
  9. 2.9 190 km S of Unalaska, Alaska
  10. 2.6 209 km S of Unalaska, Alaska
  11. 3.4 195 km S of Unalaska, Alaska
  12. 2.6 203 km ESE of Nikolski, Alaska
  13. 3.2 200 km ESE of Nikolski, Alaska
  14. 4.2 213 km S of Unalaska, Alaska
  15. 2.4 195 km S of Unalaska, 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.