Reviewed by USGSArmenia115y ago
M5.8 earthquake 3 km W of Stepanavan, Armenia
Saturday, October 12, 1912, 19:48:47 UTC · 41.008°N, 44.349°E
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck 3 km W of Stepanavan, Armenia on Saturday, October 12, 1912, 19:48:47 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 5.8
- Moderate · mw
- Depth
- 15 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
7 kilotons of TNT
That is about 1/2 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 15 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
353 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Anatolian and Arabian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
Depth: shallow
15 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 75 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 75 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 2 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 19 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 22,908 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1859M6.1
Erzurum
2 Jun 1859 · 286 km away
15,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1903M6.3
Malazgirt
28 Apr 1903 · 264 km away · intensity X
3,560 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1840M6.7
Mt Ararat, Aguri, Aralikh; Iran: Maku
2 Jul 1840 · 146 km away · intensity IX
1,049 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1903M5.8
Varginis,Cardahli,Mehkerek
28 May 1903 · 139 km away · intensity VIII
1,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1843
Khvoy (Khoy)
18 Apr 1843 · 272 km away · intensity VII
1,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1896
Khvoy (Khoy)
5 Jan 1896 · 284 km away
800 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.