Reviewed by USGS19y ago
M4.2 earthquake south of the Fiji Islands
Monday, December 31, 2007, 13:11:58 UTC · 25.748°S, 176.632°W
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck south of the Fiji Islands on Monday, December 31, 2007, 13:11:58 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 35 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 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
111 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Kermadec and Australian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
Depth: shallow
35 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 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 977 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.8south of TongaOctober 11, 1975 · 179 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.8south of the Fiji IslandsDecember 9, 2007 · 92 km W of this epicenter
- 7.7Kermadec Islands regionOctober 20, 1986 · 265 km S of this epicenter
- 7.6south of the Fiji IslandsDecember 18, 1963 · 113 km N of this epicenter
- 7.3south of the Fiji IslandsJanuary 20, 1970 · 62 km W of this epicenter
- 7.2south of the Fiji IslandsNovember 24, 1960 · 125 km N of this epicenter
- 7.2south of TongaOctober 10, 1977 · 123 km E of this epicenter
- 7.2south of the Fiji IslandsApril 16, 1996 · 192 km N of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 9 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1986M8.1
Raoul
20 Oct 1986 · 265 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1955M7.8
Kermadec Islands
27 Feb 1955 · 274 km away
- 1975M7.8
S Of Tonga
11 Oct 1975 · 179 km away
- 2007M7.8
Kermadec Islands
9 Dec 2007 · 92 km away
tsunami
- 1982M7.7
Tonga Trench
19 Dec 1982 · 196 km away
tsunami
- 1961M7.5
Kermadec Islands
7 Mar 1961 · 298 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.