Magnitude6.8

Reviewed by USGSTurkey122y ago

M6.8 earthquake 13 km NNE of Sincik, Turkey

Monday, December 4, 1905, 07:05:30 UTC · 38.153°N, 38.645°E

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck 13 km NNE of Sincik, Turkey on Monday, December 4, 1905, 07:05:30 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.

Magnitude
6.8
Strong · mw
Depth
10 km
Shallow
Felt reports
0
Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking
VII
Very 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

239 kilotons of TNT

That is about 16 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 501 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

7 km

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

Depth: shallow

10 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 1 M5.0+ earthquake 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 6 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 5,700 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1784

    Erzurum,Erzincan

    23 Jul 1784 · 187 km away

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

  2. 1893M6.7

    Malatya

    31 Mar 1893 · 34 km away · intensity IX

    400 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

  3. 1835

    Turkey

    23 Aug 1835 · 277 km away · intensity X

    300 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)

  4. 1905M6.8

    Puturge,Celikhan,Rumkale

    4 Dec 1905 · 7 km away · intensity IX

    Severe damage ($5–24M)

  5. 1874M6.1

    Keban,Maden

    4 May 1874 · 73 km away

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)

  6. 1905

    Rasum-Kale (Near Halab); Lebanon: Bayront

    1905 · 266 km away · intensity VIII

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)

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

Nearby trackers

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