M3.9 earthquake 85 km N of Ternate, Indonesia

Tuesday, January 15, 2008, 10:29:29 UTC · 1.555°N, 127.254°E

A magnitude 3.9 earthquake struck 85 km N of Ternate, Indonesia on Tuesday, January 15, 2008, 10:29:29 UTC, at a depth of 200.0 km (intermediate).

Magnitude: 3.9; Minor · mb
Depth: 200 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

11 tons of TNT

That is about 1/1,410 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 45 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

85 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Birds Head and Sunda plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: intermediate

200 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 8 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.0 on February 6, 2008. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 1,790 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 25 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 173 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1845M7.0
N Sulawesi: Menado, Tikala, Tomohon
8 Feb 1845 · 267 km away · intensity IX
118 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1855
Maluku: Ternate Island
14 Jul 1855 · 84 km away · intensity IX
34 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
1994M7.0
Kau
21 Jan 1994 · 80 km away
9 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
1932M7.7
Sulawesi: Kakas,Langowan,Poso,Tondano
14 May 1932 · 200 km away · intensity VII
7 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
2007M7.5
Molucca Islands: N
21 Jan 2007 · 121 km away
4 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)
2003M7.0
Morotai, Berebere, Daruba
26 May 2003 · 199 km away
1 deathLimited damage (under $1M)

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers