QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.9mb

139 km E of Atka, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 3.9 earthquake was recorded 139 km E of Atka, Alaska at 03:00 UTC on 2024-10-30, 28 km deep.

· 28 km deep · released about 11 tons 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 3.9 (mb)
Depth
28 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Measured shaking
intensity II (ShakeMap)
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 666 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 85 km (53 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 11 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 16,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 710× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 500× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.9 about 11 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 22× 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 5.0 on 2023-11-03 — about 45 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.3 Fox Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska · 33 km SE of this epicentre
  2. 6.9 170 km E of Atka, Alaska · 32 km ESE of this epicentre
  3. 6.3 143 km E of Atka, Alaska · 28 km S of this epicentre
  4. 6.1 157 km ESE of Atka, Alaska · 46 km SSE of this epicentre
  5. 6.1 188 km E of Atka, Alaska · 48 km E 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 52.2664, -172.1589. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 176 km E of Atka, Alaska
  2. 3.9 170 km E of Atka, Alaska
  3. 4.4 171 km E of Atka, Alaska
  4. 3.0 173 km E of Atka, Alaska
  5. 4.4 167 km E of Atka, Alaska
  6. 5.6 172 km ENE of Atka, Alaska
  7. 3.2 174 km ENE of Atka, Alaska
  8. 4.9 168 km E of Atka, Alaska
  9. 3.2 116 km E of Atka, Alaska
  10. 3.2 130 km ESE of Atka, Alaska
  11. 3.7 127 km E of Atka, Alaska
  12. 4.7 172 km E of Atka, Alaska
  13. 3.0 133 km E of Atka, Alaska
  14. 3.2 168 km E of Atka, Alaska
  15. 3.5 121 km E 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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.