M4.0 earthquake 89 km SSW of False Pass, Alaska

Thursday, December 21, 2023, 15:03:38 UTC · 54.075°N, 163.725°W

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck 89 km SSW of False Pass, Alaska on Thursday, December 21, 2023, 15:03:38 UTC, at a depth of 38.1 km (shallow).

Magnitude: 4.0; Light · mb
Depth: 38 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: I; Not felt (ShakeMap)
PAGER alert: None; Not issued
Tsunami: No flag; USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search areaColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)

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

105 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the North American and Pacific plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: shallow

38 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 8 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M3.2 on January 18, 2024. 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 464 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 10 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 169 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1946M8.6
Unimak Island
1 Apr 1946 · 87 km away · intensity VI
168 deaths$26 million damagetsunami
2023M7.2
Alaska Peninsula
16 Jul 2023 · 197 km away · intensity VI
1 deathtsunami
1965M6.5
Aleutian Islands: Fox Islands
2 Jul 1965 · 278 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
1788M8.0
Alaska Peninsula
6 Aug 1788 · 204 km away
tsunami
2020M7.6
Alaska
19 Oct 2020 · 272 km away · intensity IX
tsunami
1948M7.5
Alaska Peninsula
14 May 1948 · 183 km away

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

Nearby trackers