M4.0 earthquake 273 km WSW of Tual, Indonesia

Monday, December 9, 2019, 21:18:40 UTC · 6.286°S, 130.373°E

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck 273 km WSW of Tual, Indonesia on Monday, December 9, 2019, 21:18:40 UTC, at a depth of 113.1 km (intermediate).

Magnitude: 4.0; Light · mb
Depth: 113 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

15 tons of TNT

That is about 1/998 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 32 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

43 km

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

Depth: intermediate

113 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 8 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.9 on December 28, 2019. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 1,422 M5.0+ earthquakes 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 18 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 69 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1852M8.3
Maluku: Bandanaira
25 Nov 1852 · 134 km away · intensity IX
60 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1763
Bandaneira
12 Sep 1763 · 52 km away · intensity X
7 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1711M7.0
Banda Sea
5 Sep 1711 · 296 km away
2 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1710
Bandaneira
6 Mar 1710 · 202 km away · intensity IX
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1938M8.6
New Guinea
1 Feb 1938 · 195 km away · intensity VI
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1975M5.9
Maluku: Bandanaira
15 Jan 1975 · 149 km away · intensity VII
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers