Reviewed by USGS10y ago
M4.2 earthquake in South Georgia Island region
Tuesday, October 11, 2016, 18:21:10 UTC · 55.268°S, 32.121°W
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck in South Georgia Island region on Tuesday, October 11, 2016, 18:21:10 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- 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 earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
30 tons of TNT
That is about 1/500 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 16 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
63 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Scotia and South American 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 has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 376 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.11929 South Sandwich Islands EarthquakeJune 27, 1929 · 176 km E of this epicenter
- 7.4South Georgia Island regionAugust 19, 2016 · 16 km E of this epicenter
- 6.9South Sandwich Islands regionAugust 18, 1930 · 267 km E of this epicenter
- 6.9South Sandwich Islands regionSeptember 13, 1921 · 222 km E of this epicenter
- 6.9South Sandwich Islands regionSeptember 6, 2004 · 199 km E of this epicenter
- 6.9South Sandwich Islands regionJune 29, 2014 · 238 km E of this epicenter
- 6.8South Sandwich Islands regionJanuary 30, 1963 · 225 km E of this epicenter
- 6.8South Sandwich Islands regionNovember 7, 2000 · 147 km E of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 2 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1929M8.1
South Sandwich Islands
27 Jun 1929 · 176 km away
- 2016M7.4
South Sandwich Islands
19 Aug 2016 · 16 km away · intensity III
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.