Reviewed by USGS47y ago
M4.6 earthquake in Owen Fracture Zone region
Monday, April 28, 1980, 02:48:17 UTC · 11.810°N, 57.698°E
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck in Owen Fracture Zone region on Monday, April 28, 1980, 02:48:17 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.2 on April 20, 1980.
- Magnitude
- 4.6
- Light · mb
- 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
120 tons of TNT
That is about 1/126 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 4 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
10 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Indian and Somali 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 lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.6 on May 22, 1980. 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 35 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.1Owen Fracture Zone regionMarch 31, 1954 · 53 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.0Carlsberg RidgeOctober 3, 1904 · 152 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.7170 km E of Hadibu, YemenDecember 18, 1908 · 243 km W of this epicenter
- 6.2Owen Fracture Zone regionApril 20, 1980 · 8 km S of this epicenter
- 6.2Carlsberg RidgeApril 11, 1954 · 139 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.2Carlsberg RidgeNovember 17, 1946 · 139 km S of this epicenter
- 6.0Carlsberg RidgeFebruary 12, 1932 · 188 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.0Carlsberg RidgeOctober 31, 1940 · 108 km S of this epicenter