The September 30, 1977 earthquake
M5.0near Altamont, Utah
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake 3.1 miles deep, centred in Duchesne County. The 24th strongest in Utah’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 5.3 on January 17, 1950. 6 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.0
- body-wave magnitude (mb)
- Depth
- 3.1 mi
- 5.0 km below the surface
- Local time
- Friday, September 30, 1977
- 04:19 MDT; 10:19 UTC
- In Utah’s record
- 24th
- strongest of 2,224 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event usp0000quv (“21 km NW of Altamont, Utah”). 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.
6
Aftershocks in 30 days
4.8
Largest aftershock, Oct 11, 1977
1
On the first day
0
In the 7 days before
- 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.
Counties and cities within 50 miles
Distance from the epicentre to each county boundary (zero when inside) and to each city centre.
Counties
- Duchesne CountyUT · inside
- Summit CountyUT · 17.4 mi
- Wasatch CountyUT · 26.9 mi
- Daggett CountyUT · 30.6 mi
- Uintah CountyUT · 31.4 mi
- Sweetwater CountyWY · 38.8 mi
- Uinta CountyWY · 38.8 mi
- Utah CountyUT · 47.6 mi
Cities, largest first
- VernalUT · 47.4 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
16 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.