M3.5 earthquake 38 km NNE of Amboy, Washington

Wednesday, May 14, 1980, 02:34:11 UTC · 46.209°N, 122.188°W

A magnitude 3.5 earthquake struck 38 km NNE of Amboy, Washington on Wednesday, May 14, 1980, 02:34:11 UTC, at a depth of 0.8 km (shallow).

Magnitude: 3.5; Minor · md
Depth: 1 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

3 tons of TNT

That is about 1/5,615 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 178 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

268 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Juan de Fuca and North American plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: shallow

1 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 171 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.7 on May 18, 1980. 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 30 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 5 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 76 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1980M5.2
Mt St Helens
18 May 1980 · 1 km away · intensity V
61 deaths$2.0 billion damagetsunami
1949M7.0
Washington
13 Apr 1949 · 111 km away · intensity VIII
8 deaths$25 million damagetsunami
1965M6.6
Seattle
29 Apr 1965 · 133 km away · intensity VIII
7 deaths$28 million damage
1700M9.0
Cascadia Subduction Zone
27 Jan 1700 · 257 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1891
Puget Sound
29 Nov 1891 · 222 km away · intensity VII
tsunami

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

Nearby trackers