Reviewed by USGSEcuador19y ago
M4.2 earthquake 31 km N of Macas, Ecuador
Monday, December 3, 2007, 06:42:15 UTC · 2.024°S, 78.070°W
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 31 km N of Macas, Ecuador on Monday, December 3, 2007, 06:42:15 UTC, at a depth of 143.1 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 143 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
30 tons of TNT
That is about 1/500 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 16 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
89 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the North Andes and South American plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: intermediate
143 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 187 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.498 km ESE of Sucúa, EcuadorJuly 27, 1971 · 120 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.229 km SSE of Pimampiro, EcuadorMarch 6, 1987 · 243 km N of this epicenter
- 7.045 km SE of Sucúa, EcuadorOctober 3, 1995 · 83 km S of this epicenter
- 7.07 km NNE of Tosagua, EcuadorJanuary 16, 1956 · 278 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.8109 km W of Alianza Cristiana, PeruNovember 23, 1986 · 164 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.830 km E of Macas, EcuadorNovember 16, 2007 · 41 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.846 km SW of Paján, EcuadorOctober 2, 1933 · 298 km W of this epicenter
- 6.764 km WSW of Alianza Cristiana, PeruMay 2, 1995 · 235 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 122,095 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1868M7.7
Guayaquil,Ibarra; Colombia: San Pablo
16 Aug 1868 · 260 km away · intensity X
70,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1797M8.3
Riobamba, Quito, Cuzco; Peru; Colombia
4 Feb 1797 · 79 km away · intensity XI
40,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1949M6.5
Tungurahua
5 Aug 1949 · 91 km away
6,000 deaths$8 million damage
- 1987M7.2
Napo Province, Quito, Tulcan
6 Mar 1987 · 236 km away
5,000 deaths$1.5 billion damage
- 1757M7.0
Cotopaxi,Tungurahua, Latacunga
22 Feb 1757 · 138 km away · intensity IX
1,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1924M6.9
Ecuador
3 Mar 1924 · 75 km away
40 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.