Reviewed by USGSAlaska2y ago
M2.6 earthquake 172 km SSE of King Cove, Alaska
Sunday, December 31, 2023, 05:09:34 UTC · 53.680°N, 161.103°W
A magnitude 2.6 earthquake struck 172 km SSE of King Cove, Alaska on Sunday, December 31, 2023, 05:09:34 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 2.6
- Minor · ml
- 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
120 kg of TNT
That is about 1/125,702 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 3,981 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
10 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the North American and Pacific 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 385 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.6The 1946 Unimak Island, Alaska EarthquakeApril 1, 1946 · 116 km W of this epicenter
- 8.21938 Semidi Islands, Alaska EarthquakeNovember 10, 1938 · 252 km NE of this epicenter
- 8.22021 Chignik, Alaska EarthquakeJuly 29, 2021 · 279 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.82020 Perryville, Alaska EarthquakeJuly 22, 2020 · 224 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.62020 Sand Point, Alaska EarthquakeOctober 19, 2020 · 141 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.454 km SE of Sand Point, AlaskaMay 31, 1917 · 166 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.22023 Sand Point, Alaska EarthquakeJuly 16, 2023 · 82 km N of this epicenter
- 7.190 km SE of King Cove, AlaskaMay 14, 1948 · 102 km N of this epicenter
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 · 116 km away · intensity VI
168 deaths$26 million damagetsunami
- 2023M7.2
Alaska Peninsula
16 Jul 2023 · 90 km away · intensity VI
1 deathtsunami
- 2020M7.8
Alaska
22 Jul 2020 · 224 km away · intensity VII
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1938M8.2
Alaska
10 Nov 1938 · 267 km away · intensity VI
tsunami
- 2021M8.2
Alaska Peninsula
29 Jul 2021 · 279 km away · intensity VIII
tsunami
- 1788M8.0
Alaska Peninsula
6 Aug 1788 · 147 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.