M4.6 earthquake 140 km WSW of Xining, China

Sunday, May 13, 1990, 08:08:40 UTC · 36.340°N, 100.225°E

A magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck 140 km WSW of Xining, China on Sunday, May 13, 1990, 08:08:40 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.3 on May 7, 1990.

Magnitude: 4.6; Light · mb
Depth: 33 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

949 km

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

Depth: shallow

33 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 6 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.3 on May 15, 1990. 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 41 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 8 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 51,164 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1927M7.7
Gansu Province
22 May 1927 · 250 km away · intensity XI
40,912 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1921M6.2
Ningxia
12 Apr 1921 · 85 km away
10,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1990M6.9
Qinghai Province: Ganghe-Xinghai
26 Apr 1990 · 39 km away
126 deaths$58 million damage
1819M5.8
Qinghai Province
24 Feb 1819 · 188 km away · intensity VII
126 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
1893M5.5
Qinghai Province
1 Jun 1893 · 144 km away · intensity VII
Moderate damage ($1–5M)
1937M7.5
Qinghai Province
7 Jan 1937 · 254 km away · intensity X
Limited damage (under $1M)

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

Nearby trackers