Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.1ml
174 km ESE of Atka, Alaska
Yes. A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded 174 km ESE of Atka, Alaska at 22:25 UTC on 2025-05-02, 35 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.1 (ml)
- Depth
- 35 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 490 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 22 km (14 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.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
- 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 4.9 on 2024-04-10 — about 500 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 47 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.3 Fox Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska · 21 km NNW of this epicentre
- 6.9 170 km E of Atka, Alaska · 32 km N of this epicentre
- 6.5 143 km ESE of Atka, Alaska · 40 km WSW of this epicentre
- 6.3 143 km E of Atka, Alaska · 33 km WNW of this epicentre
- 6.1 185 km ESE of Atka, Alaska · 10 km ESE 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 51.8817, -171.7051. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Aftershocks so far
46 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 3.2 178 km E of Atka, Alaska
- 2.6 202 km ESE of Atka, Alaska
- 2.6 150 km E of Atka, Alaska
- 2.9 178 km E of Atka, Alaska
- 2.9 179 km ESE of Atka, Alaska
- 3.6 210 km SW of Nikolski, Alaska
- 2.9 212 km SW of Nikolski, Alaska
- 2.8 189 km WSW of Nikolski, Alaska
- 2.8 184 km E of Atka, Alaska
- 2.8 188 km E of Atka, Alaska
- 3.8 138 km E of Atka, Alaska
- 2.9 175 km E of Atka, Alaska
- 3.1 173 km E of Atka, Alaska
- 2.5 176 km E of Atka, Alaska
- 2.7 188 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
- 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.