Reviewed by USGSMexico41y ago
M4.3 earthquake 37 km N of El Súchil, Mexico
Thursday, October 3, 1985, 06:29:56 UTC · 17.565°N, 100.686°W
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck 37 km N of El Súchil, Mexico on Thursday, October 3, 1985, 06:29:56 UTC, at a depth of 80.9 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.3
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 81 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 earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
43 tons of TNT
That is about 1/354 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 11 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
100 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Cocos and North American plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
Depth: intermediate
81 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 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 169 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.01985 Michoacan, Mexico EarthquakeSeptember 19, 1985 · 207 km W of this epicenter
- 7.621 km ESE of Coalcomán de Vázquez Pallares, MexicoApril 15, 1941 · 273 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.68 km ENE of Apantla, MexicoJuly 28, 1957 · 178 km E of this epicenter
- 7.619 km W of Arteaga, MexicoJune 7, 1911 · 209 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.612 km SSE of Vallecitos de Zaragoza, MexicoMarch 14, 1979 · 68 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.67 km N of Pantla, MexicoSeptember 21, 1985 · 105 km W of this epicenter
- 7.525 km S of Tetitlán, MexicoDecember 16, 1911 · 70 km S of this epicenter
- 7.527 km SSE of San Andrés Playa Encantada (El Podrido), MexicoJuly 30, 1909 · 174 km SE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 61 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 10,368 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1985M8.1
Michoacan: Mexico City
19 Sep 1985 · 207 km away · intensity IX
9,500 deaths$4.0 billion damagetsunami
- 1980M6.4
S, Huajapan De Leon, Oaxaca
24 Oct 1980 · 269 km away · intensity IX
300 deaths$5 million damage
- 1912M6.7
Central, Acambay, Tixmadeje
19 Nov 1912 · 237 km away
202 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1941M7.6
Michoacan, Colima, Jalisco
15 Apr 1941 · 273 km away · intensity VII
84 deaths$2 million damagetsunami
- 1964M7.3
Guerrero
6 Jul 1964 · 64 km away
78 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1957M7.9
Acapulco,Mexico City
28 Jul 1957 · 206 km away · intensity VII
65 deaths$25 million damagetsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.