Reviewed by USGS18y ago
M4.2 earthquake south of the Fiji Islands
Friday, January 11, 2008, 00:00:22 UTC · 25.951°S, 177.492°W
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck south of the Fiji Islands on Friday, January 11, 2008, 00:00:22 UTC, at a depth of 152.0 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.2
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 152 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
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
29 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
152 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 1 M2.5+ earthquake 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 1,013 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 · 276 km S of this epicenter
- 7.8south of TongaOctober 11, 1975 · 266 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.8south of the Fiji IslandsDecember 9, 2007 · 5 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.7Kermadec Islands regionOctober 20, 1986 · 265 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.6south of the Fiji IslandsDecember 18, 1963 · 149 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.3south of the Fiji IslandsJanuary 20, 1970 · 27 km E of this epicenter
- 7.3south of the Fiji IslandsMarch 30, 1972 · 284 km W of this epicenter
- 7.2south of the Fiji IslandsNovember 24, 1960 · 189 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 · 265 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1975M7.8
S Of Tonga
11 Oct 1975 · 266 km away
- 2007M7.8
Kermadec Islands
9 Dec 2007 · 5 km away
tsunami
- 1959M7.7
Kermadec Islands
14 Sep 1959 · 288 km away
- 1982M7.7
Tonga Trench
19 Dec 1982 · 260 km away
tsunami
- 1963M7.5
Tonga Trench
18 Dec 1963 · 156 km away
tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.