The July 5, 1929 earthquake

M7.0near Adak, Alaska

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake 21.7 miles deep, 5.3 miles off Aleutians West Census Area. The 54th strongest in Alaska’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles in the catalogue, which runs from 1900. 3 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.

The earthquake

Magnitude
7.0
moment magnitude (mw)
Depth
21.7 mi
35.0 km below the surface
Local time
Friday, July 5, 1929
03:19 NST; 14:19 UTC
Epicentre
51.46°N, 178.15°W
5.3 mi from Aleutians West Census Area
In Alaska’s record
54th
strongest of 124,625 since 1900
Within 50 miles
1
county; more on this date

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event iscgem908189 (“114 km WSW of Adak, Alaska”). The USGS event page carries the ShakeMap, felt reports and the official summary.

Aftershocks

Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 26 miles of the epicentre in the 30 days after.

3

Aftershocks in 30 days

7.3

Largest aftershock, Jul 7, 1929 · its page

0

On the first day

0

In the 7 days before

Aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or more, by day after the earthquake 1: 0 2: 0 3: 1 1 4: 0 5: 0 6: 0 7: 1 8: 0 9: 0 10: 0 11: 0 12: 0 13: 0 14: 0 15: 0 16: 0 17: 0 18: 0 19: 0 20: 0 21: 0 22: 0 23: 0 24: 0 25: 0 26: 0 27: 0 28: 0 29: 0 30: 1 1611162126
  1. The search radius is the surface rupture length expected for an earthquake of this magnitude (Wells and Coppersmith, 1994), at least 20 and at most 600 miles, so a great earthquake's sequence is counted along its whole fault.
  2. Before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s many small aftershocks went unrecorded, so early sequences read short.

Counties and cities within 50 miles

Distance from the epicentre to each county boundary (zero when inside) and to each city centre.

Counties

Earthquakes around the epicentre

3,561 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.

Earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of the epicentre, by year 1973: 19 1974: 13 1975: 10 1976: 21 1977: 6 1978: 17 1979: 9 1980: 11 1981: 5 1982: 14 1983: 14 1984: 7 1985: 10 1986: 14 1987: 21 1988: 14 1989: 23 1990: 9 1991: 12 1992: 45 1993: 27 1994: 16 1995: 20 1996: 188 1997: 53 1998: 32 1999: 21 2000: 34 2001: 40 2002: 36 2003: 44 2004: 46 2005: 74 2006: 78 2007: 83 2008: 208 2009: 82 2010: 78 2011: 60 2012: 141 2013: 80 2014: 68 2015: 49 2016: 62 2017: 595 595 2018: 89 2019: 90 2020: 163 2021: 83 2022: 132 2023: 239 2024: 148 2025: 108 19731978198319881993199820032008201320182023

Earlier earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more within 50 miles, strongest first

  • January 4, 1912M6.8
  • April 15, 1927M6.5
  • November 16, 1923M6.3
  • August 1, 1927M6.2
  • December 9, 1918M6.2
  • August 13, 1924M6.2
  • November 12, 1926M6.2
  • May 22, 1919M6.2
  • August 1, 1927M6.1
  • May 17, 1928M5.7

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.