Reviewed by USGSPapua New Guinea31y ago
M4.1 earthquake in Bougainville region, Papua New Guinea
Sunday, February 25, 1996, 15:52:22 UTC · 5.854°S, 154.528°E
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck in Bougainville region, Papua New Guinea on Sunday, February 25, 1996, 15:52:22 UTC, at a depth of 158.1 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.1
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 158 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
21 tons of TNT
That is about 1/707 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 22 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
2 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Pacific and North Bismarck plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: intermediate
158 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 1,327 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.21919 Papua New Guinea EarthquakeMay 6, 1919 · 138 km NW of this epicenter
- 8.11971 Bougainville EarthquakeJuly 26, 1971 · 185 km NW of this epicenter
- 8.01971 New Britain EarthquakeJuly 14, 1971 · 85 km NW of this epicenter
- 8.060 km SE of Kokopo, Papua New GuineaJanuary 1, 1916 · 243 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.956 km WSW of Panguna, Papua New GuineaJuly 20, 1975 · 100 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.885 km S of Panguna, Papua New GuineaJanuary 30, 1939 · 167 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.874 km SSW of Kokopo, Papua New GuineaFebruary 2, 1920 · 295 km W of this epicenter
- 7.794 km SSW of Panguna, Papua New GuineaJuly 20, 1975 · 155 km SE of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 32 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 20 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1983M6.4
Ulawun, Rabaul
22 Dec 1983 · 299 km away · intensity V
10 deaths$25 million damage
- 1939M7.7
Bougainville Island
30 Jan 1939 · 166 km away
5 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1971M7.9
New Ireland: Bougainville
14 Jul 1971 · 80 km away · intensity IX
3 deathsUnder $1 million damagetsunami
- 1996M7.2
Bougainville Island
29 Apr 1996 · 90 km away
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1989M5.4
New Britain: Rabaul
10 Mar 1989 · 255 km away · intensity V
1 death
- 1975M7.9
Bismarck Sea: Bougainville
20 Jul 1975 · 100 km away · intensity VIII
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.