Reviewed by USGS69y ago
M6.2 earthquake northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Sunday, October 20, 1957, 12:04:25 UTC · 10.394°N, 42.008°W
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge on Sunday, October 20, 1957, 12:04:25 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.0 on February 22, 1929.
- Magnitude
- 6.2
- Strong · 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
32 kilotons of TNT
That is about 2 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 68 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
49 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the African and South American plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
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 100 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 10 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.1northern Mid-Atlantic RidgeOctober 13, 1925 · 45 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.1northern Mid-Atlantic RidgeDecember 2, 1918 · 213 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.0northern Mid-Atlantic RidgeFebruary 22, 1929 · 29 km N of this epicenter
- 6.8central Mid-Atlantic RidgeApril 21, 1919 · 236 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.7northern Mid-Atlantic RidgeJuly 13, 1906 · 81 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.6northern Mid-Atlantic RidgeSeptember 3, 1927 · 167 km W of this epicenter
- 5.8central Mid-Atlantic RidgeAugust 10, 1951 · 289 km SE of this epicenter
- 5.7central Mid-Atlantic RidgeJuly 27, 1929 · 288 km SE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 1 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1925M7.5
North Atlantic Ridge
13 Oct 1925 · 67 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.