Magnitude6.8

Reviewed by USGSMexico92y ago

M6.8 earthquake 20 km W of La Placita de Morelos, Mexico

Saturday, June 29, 1935, 06:48:57 UTC · 18.518°N, 103.786°W

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck 20 km W of La Placita de Morelos, Mexico on Saturday, June 29, 1935, 06:48:57 UTC, at a depth of 25.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.0 on November 30, 1934.

Magnitude
6.8
Strong · mw
Depth
25 km
Shallow
Felt reports
0
Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking
VI
Strong (ShakeMap)
PAGER alert
None
Not issued
Tsunami
No flag
USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

284 kilotons of TNT

That is about 19 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 596 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

58 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Cocos and North American plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

25 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 33 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 27 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 4,558 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1806M7.5

    Jalisco,Oaxaca,Michoacan

    25 Mar 1806 · 43 km away · intensity VIII

    2,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

  2. 1818M8.2

    Morelos-Guerrero,Mexico City,Guadalajara

    31 May 1818 · 67 km away · intensity X

    2,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  3. 1932M8.1

    Near Coast Of Jalisco

    3 Jun 1932 · 124 km away · intensity X

    400 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  4. 1932M7.7

    Central

    22 Jun 1932 · 102 km away

    75 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  5. 1847

    Jalisco,Oaxaca,Michoacan

    2 Oct 1847 · 228 km away · intensity IX

    58 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

  6. 1875M7.5

    San Cristobal De La Barranca

    11 Feb 1875 · 246 km away

    25 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)

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

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages