M4.8 earthquake 52 km N of Tianpeng, China

Tuesday, July 8, 2008, 12:12:58 UTC · 31.457°N, 103.948°E

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck 52 km N of Tianpeng, China on Tuesday, July 8, 2008, 12:12:58 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M4.8 on July 5, 2008.

Magnitude: 4.8; Light · mb
Depth: 10 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

239 tons of TNT

That is about 1/63 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 2 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

323 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Eurasian and Yangtze plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: shallow

10 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 lists 9 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.1 on July 17, 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 127 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 45 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 126,461 recorded deaths. The most severe:

2008M7.9
Sichuan Province
12 May 2008 · 75 km away · intensity IX
87,652 deaths$86 billion damagetsunami
1879M8.0
Gansu Province
1 Jul 1879 · 206 km away · intensity XI
22,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1933M7.4
Sichuan Province
25 Aug 1933 · 62 km away · intensity X
9,300 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1923M7.3
Sichuan Province
24 Mar 1923 · 280 km away · intensity X
4,800 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1881M6.5
Gansu Province
20 Jul 1881 · 246 km away · intensity VIII
480 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1786M7.5
Sichuan Province: S Of Kangding
1 Jun 1786 · 255 km away · intensity IX
435 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

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

Nearby trackers