Reviewed by USGS19y ago
M4.0 earthquake south of the Fiji Islands
Monday, December 31, 2007, 16:45:05 UTC · 26.059°S, 177.701°W
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck south of the Fiji Islands on Monday, December 31, 2007, 16:45:05 UTC, at a depth of 182.9 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.0
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 183 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
15 tons of TNT
That is about 1/998 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 32 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
11 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Kermadec and Australian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: intermediate
183 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 lists 2 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.6 on January 14, 2008. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 994 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.01976 Kermadec Islands, New Zealand EarthquakeJanuary 14, 1976 · 263 km S of this epicenter
- 7.8south of TongaOctober 11, 1975 · 290 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.8south of the Fiji IslandsDecember 9, 2007 · 20 km E of this epicenter
- 7.7Kermadec Islands regionOctober 20, 1986 · 264 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.6south of the Fiji IslandsDecember 18, 1963 · 169 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.3south of the Fiji IslandsJanuary 20, 1970 · 50 km E of this epicenter
- 7.3south of the Fiji IslandsMarch 30, 1972 · 264 km W of this epicenter
- 7.2south of the Fiji IslandsNovember 24, 1960 · 212 km NE of this epicenter
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. The most severe:
- 1986M8.1
Raoul
20 Oct 1986 · 264 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1975M7.8
S Of Tonga
11 Oct 1975 · 290 km away
- 2007M7.8
Kermadec Islands
9 Dec 2007 · 20 km away
tsunami
- 1959M7.7
Kermadec Islands
14 Sep 1959 · 280 km away
- 1982M7.7
Tonga Trench
19 Dec 1982 · 283 km away
tsunami
- 1963M7.5
Tonga Trench
18 Dec 1963 · 178 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.