Reviewed by USGS9y ago
M4.5 earthquake in South Georgia Island region
Saturday, December 10, 2016, 14:43:48 UTC · 54.941°S, 31.385°W
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck in South Georgia Island region on Saturday, December 10, 2016, 14:43:48 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.6 on December 5, 2016.
- Magnitude
- 4.5
- 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
85 tons of TNT
That is about 1/178 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 6 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
21 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 lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.6 on December 14, 2016. 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 557 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 · 138 km E of this epicenter
- 7.8South Sandwich Islands regionMay 26, 1964 · 280 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.4South Georgia Island regionAugust 19, 2016 · 49 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.1South Sandwich Islands regionSeptember 8, 1961 · 297 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.9South Sandwich Islands regionAugust 18, 1930 · 235 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.9South Sandwich Islands regionSeptember 13, 1921 · 188 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.9South Sandwich Islands regionSeptember 6, 2004 · 160 km E of this epicenter
- 6.9South Sandwich Islands regionJune 29, 2014 · 200 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:
- 1929M8.1
South Sandwich Islands
27 Jun 1929 · 138 km away
- 1961M7.7
South Sandwich Islands
8 Sep 1961 · 296 km away
- 2016M7.4
South Sandwich Islands
19 Aug 2016 · 49 km away · intensity III
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.