QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1ml

119 km S of Sand Point, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded 119 km S of Sand Point, Alaska, at 5:59 am AKST on 19 December 2019 (14:59 UTC), 17 km deep.

· 17 km deep · released about 1,300 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 3.1 (ml)
Depth
17 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aleutians East Borough, 132 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2443 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 38 km (24 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 5.8 on 2018-07-19 — about 11,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 21 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.1 90 km SE of King Cove, Alaska · 42 km NW of this epicentre
  2. 6.4 101 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska · 29 km NW of this epicentre
  3. 6.4 109 km SSE of King Cove, Alaska · 41 km W of this epicentre
  4. 6.4 85 km ESE of King Cove, Alaska · 49 km NNW of this epicentre
  5. 6.2 141 km SSE of King Cove, Alaska · 39 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 54.2815, -160.7975. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aleutians East Borough, AK 132 km (82 mi) NW earthquakes near Aleutians East Borough

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 102 km SE of King Cove, Alaska
  2. 2.3 131 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  3. 2.8 141 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  4. 2.0 148 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  5. 2.3 137 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  6. 2.4 142 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  7. 1.6 112 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  8. 2.4 145 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  9. 1.9 152 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  10. 3.3 89 km S of Sand Point, Alaska
  11. 1.5 109 km SE of King Cove, Alaska
  12. 1.6 80 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska
  13. 4.7 117 km SE of King Cove, Alaska
  14. 2.6 89 km SSW of Sand Point, Alaska
  15. 2.6 88 km SE of King Cove, 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.