Reviewed by USGS103y ago
M7.1 earthquake north of Macquarie Island
Thursday, July 24, 1924, 04:55:19 UTC · 49.382°S, 159.224°E
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck north of Macquarie Island on Thursday, July 24, 1924, 04:55:19 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 7.1
- Major · 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
773 kilotons of TNT
That is about 51 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1,622 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
269 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Pacific and Australian 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 200 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 200 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists no earlier M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km.
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:
- 1924M7.5
Macquarie Island: North Of
24 Jul 1924 · 21 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.