Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.8mb
106 km SE of Adak, Alaska
Yes. A magnitude 3.8 earthquake was recorded 106 km SE of Adak, Alaska at 05:43 UTC on 2023-12-22, 35 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.8 (mb)
- Depth
- 35 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Measured shaking
- intensity I (ShakeMap)
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 990 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 75 km (47 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 7.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 22,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.8 about 7.6 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 16× 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 6.3 on 2019-11-24 — about 5,600 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 134 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 8.6 1957 Atka, Alaska Earthquake · 27 km NNW of this epicentre
- 7.0 101 km SW of Atka, Alaska · 30 km NNE of this epicentre
- 6.9 100 km ESE of Adak, Alaska · 27 km NNE of this epicentre
- 6.8 99 km SW of Atka, Alaska · 31 km NE of this epicentre
- 6.8 100 km SW of Atka, Alaska · 30 km NNE 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 51.2957, -175.4097. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Aftershocks so far
57 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.7 102 km ESE of Adak, Alaska
- 2.4 114 km SSW of Atka, Alaska
- 3.3 129 km SSW of Atka, Alaska
- 2.1 65 km SE of Adak, Alaska
- 3.2 87 km ESE of Adak, Alaska
- 2.0 79 km ESE of Adak, Alaska
- 2.2 96 km SW of Atka, Alaska
- 3.8 93 km SW of Atka, Alaska
- 4.6 94 km SW of Atka, Alaska
- 2.0 84 km ESE of Adak, Alaska
- 1.9 96 km SW of Atka, Alaska
- 2.6 65 km SE of Adak, Alaska
- 1.9 66 km SE of Adak, Alaska
- 1.8 67 km SE of Adak, Alaska
- 4.0 87 km SW of Atka, 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
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.