Reviewed by USGSPapua New Guinea9y ago
M4.5 earthquake 149 km W of Panguna, Papua New Guinea
Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 06:10:19 UTC · 6.247°S, 154.135°E
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 149 km W of Panguna, Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 06:10:19 UTC, at a depth of 181.8 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.6 on March 6, 2017.
- Magnitude
- 4.5
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 182 km
- Intermediate
- 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
16 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the North Bismarck and Solomon Sea plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: intermediate
182 km
Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.
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 M4.5 on March 27, 2017. 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 2,690 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.21919 Papua New Guinea EarthquakeMay 6, 1919 · 163 km N of this epicenter
- 8.11971 Bougainville EarthquakeJuly 26, 1971 · 186 km NW of this epicenter
- 8.01971 New Britain EarthquakeJuly 14, 1971 · 92 km N of this epicenter
- 8.060 km SE of Kokopo, Papua New GuineaJanuary 1, 1916 · 235 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.935 km WNW of Panguna, Papua New GuineaJanuary 22, 2017 · 115 km E of this epicenter
- 7.9140 km E of Kokopo, Papua New GuineaDecember 17, 2016 · 205 km N of this epicenter
- 7.956 km WSW of Panguna, Papua New GuineaJuly 20, 1975 · 108 km E of this epicenter
- 7.885 km S of Panguna, Papua New GuineaJanuary 30, 1939 · 167 km SE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 43 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 24 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1983M6.4
Ulawun, Rabaul
22 Dec 1983 · 268 km away · intensity V
10 deaths$25 million damage
- 1939M7.7
Bougainville Island
30 Jan 1939 · 166 km away
5 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1971M7.9
New Ireland: Bougainville
14 Jul 1971 · 87 km away · intensity IX
3 deathsUnder $1 million damagetsunami
- 2017M7.9
Bougainville Island
22 Jan 2017 · 115 km away · intensity IX
3 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1996M7.2
Bougainville Island
29 Apr 1996 · 100 km away
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 2014M7.1
Bougainville Island
11 Apr 2014 · 108 km away
1 deathLimited damage (under $1M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.