Reviewed by USGS59y ago
M6.1 earthquake off the coast of Oregon
Thursday, December 28, 1967, 06:26:15 UTC · 44.142°N, 129.337°W
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Oregon on Thursday, December 28, 1967, 06:26:15 UTC, at a depth of 15.8 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.2 on September 26, 1959.
- Magnitude
- 6.1
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 16 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
20 kilotons of TNT
That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 42 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
0 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Pacific and Juan de Fuca plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
16 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 100 km
USGS lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.6 on December 28, 1967. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 36 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 6.5235 km W of Port Orford, OregonAugust 5, 1910 · 220 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.4213 km W of Port Orford, OregonAugust 20, 1952 · 229 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.4off the coast of OregonSeptember 11, 1928 · 128 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.3off the coast of OregonSeptember 25, 1936 · 169 km S of this epicenter
- 6.2off the coast of OregonDecember 30, 1944 · 163 km S of this epicenter
- 6.2off the coast of OregonAugust 22, 1914 · 92 km E of this epicenter
- 6.2149 km W of Port Orford, OregonMay 28, 1938 · 295 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.2294 km W of Langlois, OregonSeptember 26, 1959 · 138 km SE of this epicenter