Reviewed by USGSAlaska111y ago
M6.3 earthquake 251 km SE of Attu Station, Alaska
Thursday, December 14, 1916, 16:52:38 UTC · 51.433°N, 176.045°E
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck 251 km SE of Attu Station, Alaska on Thursday, December 14, 1916, 16:52:38 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.0 on February 6, 1916.
- Magnitude
- 6.3
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 35 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
38 kilotons of TNT
That is about 3 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 80 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
44 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the North American and Pacific plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
35 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 9 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.31906 Western Aleutian Islands (Hawadax/Rat Islands) EarthquakeAugust 17, 1906 · 155 km E of this epicenter
- 7.4151 km S of Attu Station, AlaskaSeptember 2, 1907 · 224 km W of this epicenter
- 7.2238 km WSW of Adak, AlaskaMarch 22, 1905 · 287 km E of this epicenter
- 7.0Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, AlaskaFebruary 6, 1916 · 221 km E of this epicenter
- 6.8129 km SSE of Attu Station, AlaskaNovember 13, 1911 · 162 km W of this epicenter
- 6.78 km SE of Attu Station, AlaskaOctober 18, 1912 · 242 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.4224 km WSW of Adak, AlaskaAugust 16, 1915 · 291 km E of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 3 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1906M8.3
Aleutian Islands: Rat Islands
17 Aug 1906 · 155 km away
- 1909M7.8
Aleutian Islands
10 Apr 1909 · 96 km away
- 1898M7.6
Aleutian Islands: Near Islands
29 Jun 1898 · 286 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.