Reviewed by USGS7y ago
M4.6 earthquake in Reykjanes Ridge
Sunday, March 10, 2019, 18:59:15 UTC · 58.507°N, 32.034°W
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck in Reykjanes Ridge on Sunday, March 10, 2019, 18:59:15 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.6 on March 10, 2019.
- Magnitude
- 4.6
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 10 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
120 tons of TNT
That is about 1/126 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 4 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
17 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the North American and Eurasian 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 50 km
USGS lists 5 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.9 on March 11, 2019. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 143 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 6.1Reykjanes RidgeSeptember 20, 1969 · 18 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.0Reykjanes RidgeDecember 15, 1933 · 226 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.0Reykjanes RidgeFebruary 7, 1920 · 125 km SW of this epicenter
- 5.9Reykjanes RidgeMarch 25, 1936 · 89 km SW of this epicenter
- 5.9Reykjanes RidgeNovember 28, 1919 · 298 km SW of this epicenter
- 5.9Reykjanes RidgeMarch 10, 2019 · 18 km S of this epicenter
- 5.9Reykjanes RidgeApril 29, 1937 · 169 km SW of this epicenter
- 5.8Reykjanes RidgeApril 14, 1932 · 52 km W of this epicenter