M5.1 earthquake 82 km W of Kirakira, Solomon Islands

Monday, May 16, 1977, 01:58:14 UTC · 10.336°S, 161.173°E

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck 82 km W of Kirakira, Solomon Islands on Monday, May 16, 1977, 01:58:14 UTC, at a depth of 85.0 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.2 on May 11, 1977.

Magnitude: 5.1; Moderate · mb
Depth: 85 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: 75 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

674 tons of TNT

That is about 1/22 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

70 km

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

Depth: intermediate

85 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 75 km

USGS lists 5 M2.5+ earthquakes within 75 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.7 on May 20, 1977. 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 232 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 14 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 114 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1931M7.8
San Cristobal Island
3 Oct 1931 · 68 km away
50 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1977M6.8
Solomon Islands
20 Apr 1977 · 109 km away · intensity VI
34 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1977M8.1
Solomon Islands
21 Apr 1977 · 64 km away · intensity VII
18 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1939M7.9
Solomon Islands
30 Apr 1939 · 242 km away
12 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1926M6.9
Solomon Islands
16 Sep 1926 · 196 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1977M7.6
Solomon Islands
20 Apr 1977 · 103 km away · intensity VII
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami

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

Nearby trackers