M6.0 earthquake 234 km SW of Zhangye, China

Monday, August 22, 1938, 21:37:27 UTC · 37.397°N, 98.624°E

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck 234 km SW of Zhangye, China on Monday, August 22, 1938, 21:37:27 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.8 on January 7, 1937.

Magnitude: 6.0; 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

13 kilotons of TNT

That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 27 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

1,026 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Amur and Eurasian 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 16 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 4 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 10,036 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1921M6.2
Ningxia
12 Apr 1921 · 216 km away
10,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1785M6.0
Gansu Province: Huihuipu
18 Apr 1785 · 284 km away · intensity VIII
36 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
1893M5.5
Qinghai Province
1 Jun 1893 · 296 km away · intensity VII
Moderate damage ($1–5M)
1937M7.5
Qinghai Province
7 Jan 1937 · 230 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers