M5.0 earthquake 59 km WNW of Nelson Lagoon, Alaska
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck 59 km WNW of Nelson Lagoon, Alaska on Sun, Mar 6, 2016, 4:19 AM AKST (13:19 UTC), 205 km (127 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.0 (Mww, W-phase moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2016-03-06 13:19:09 UTC
- Depth
- 205.0 km (127.4 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 56.286° N, 162.010° W
- Region
- Alaska
- Strongest shaking
- III, weak shaking
- Tsunami flag
- Yes: a large quake in an oceanic region
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.0 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.0 | Mw, moment | Alaska Earthquake Center | Preliminary |
| 5.0 | ML, local (Richter) | NOAA National Tsunami Warning Center | Reviewed · 14 stations |
Tsunami
The USGS flags a quake this large in an oceanic region. The flag does not mean a tsunami happened; the tsunami warning centers decide that, and their messages are below when they issued any.
Current tsunami warnings: tsunami.gov. Warnings in force in the US also appear on our alerts pages.
Shaking
The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.
- Strongest estimated
- III, weak shaking
- Map
- Automatic
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
- Strike-slip
- Moment magnitude
- 5.0 Mww
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 191°, dip 89°, rake -21°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 281°, dip 68°, rake -179°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 5.4 km horizontally, 4.3 km in depth
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 33°
- Stations used
- 596
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.0 and up: 2 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.
After
Earthquakes todayAlaska earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us10004vnc (also filed as ak12950346, at00o3mczw, ak01631dbmug, iscgem608461317). Read Mon, Oct 5, 2026, 8:34 AM UTC.