Alaska earthquakes

M5.2 earthquake 42 km ESE of Adak, Alaska

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck 42 km ESE of Adak, Alaska on Sun, Nov 16, 1997, 7:04 PM HAST (05:04 UTC), 51 km (32 mi) below the surface.

Map

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

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 5.2 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Sun, Nov 16, 1997, 7:04 PM HAST
UTC: 1997-11-17 05:04:35 UTC
Depth: 50.9 km (31.6 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 51.789° N, 176.029° 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
5.2	Mwc, centroid moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
5.17	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1

What happened

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

Felt on Adak.

From the USGS event page for usp0008ath. 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 255°, dip 37°, rake 111°
Nodal plane 2: Strike 50°, dip 56°, rake 75°

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Depth from: CONSTRAINED_BY_DEPTH_PHASES

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 2.2 and up: 12 in the 60 days after this one and 2 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 usp0008ath (also filed as gcmt19971117050435, iscgem1052892). Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 10:31 AM UTC.