Reviewed by USGSChina97y ago
M6.0 earthquake 244 km SSE of Hotan, China
Monday, September 1, 1930, 17:43:15 UTC · 35.155°N, 81.186°E
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck 244 km SSE of Hotan, China on Monday, September 1, 1930, 17:43:15 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.2 on August 6, 1926.
- 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
14 kilotons of TNT
That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 30 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
600 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Eurasian and Indian 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 4 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 1 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 100 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1924M7.3
Xinjiang
3 Jul 1924 · 298 km away
100 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.