The March 10, 1957 earthquake

M6.8near Adak, Alaska

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake 9.3 miles deep, 34.6 miles off Aleutians West Census Area. The 91st strongest in Alaska’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 7.3 on July 7, 1929. 2 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.

The earthquake

Magnitude
6.8
moment magnitude (mw)
Depth
9.3 mi
15.0 km below the surface
Local time
Sunday, March 10, 1957
16:12 NST; 03:12 UTC on Mar 11, 1957
Epicentre
51.09°N, 176.98°W
34.6 mi from Aleutians West Census Area
In Alaska’s record
91st
strongest of 124,625 since 1900
Within 50 miles
1
county; more on this date

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event iscgem886083 (“90 km SSW 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 20 miles of the epicentre in the 30 days after.

2

Aftershocks in 30 days

7.1

Largest aftershock, Mar 14, 1957 · 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: 0 4: 1 1 5: 0 6: 0 7: 0 8: 0 9: 1 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: 0 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

2,495 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: 15 1974: 5 1975: 3 1976: 7 1977: 9 1978: 6 1979: 3 1980: 5 1981: 7 1982: 9 1983: 11 1984: 5 1985: 5 1986: 120 1987: 25 1988: 23 1989: 14 1990: 7 1991: 11 1992: 29 1993: 15 1994: 6 1995: 17 1996: 264 264 1997: 34 1998: 34 1999: 21 2000: 23 2001: 46 2002: 40 2003: 40 2004: 37 2005: 33 2006: 41 2007: 35 2008: 51 2009: 41 2010: 184 2011: 42 2012: 36 2013: 31 2014: 47 2015: 25 2016: 46 2017: 95 2018: 64 2019: 41 2020: 77 2021: 77 2022: 104 2023: 135 2024: 196 2025: 198 19731978198319881993199820032008201320182023

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

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