Alaska earthquakes

M5.1 earthquake 38 km SW of Adak, Alaska

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck 38 km SW of Adak, Alaska on Sun, Aug 25, 1996, 12:07 AM HADT (09:07 UTC), 33 km (21 mi) below the surface.

A larger quake followed: M5.5 117 km WSW of Adak, Alaska. This one was a foreshock.

Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

Open the live map with earthquakes

The earthquake

Magnitude: 5.1 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Sun, Aug 25, 1996, 12:07 AM HADT
UTC: 1996-08-25 09:07:52 UTC
Depth: 33.0 km (20.5 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 51.597° N, 176.967° W
Region: Alaska
Tsunami flag: No
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Magnitude estimates

Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
5.1	Mwc, centroid moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
5.1	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
5.1	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary

What happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

Felt on Adak.

From the USGS event page for usp0007p1e. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

Fault motion and ground failure

How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.

Faulting: Reverse (thrust)
Nodal plane 1: Strike 245°, dip 19°, rake 96°
Nodal plane 2: Strike 59°, dip 71°, rake 88°

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Depth from: OPERATOR_ASSIGNED

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 2.1 and up: 14 in the 60 days after this one and 9 in the 30 days before it.

After

Before

Earthquakes today Alaska earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0007p1e (also filed as gcmtb082596a, gcmt19960825090752, iscgem982728). Read Thu, Oct 1, 2026, 3:15 AM UTC.