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Strong mag. 6.0 earthquake - East of Kuril Islands on Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Very strong mag. 6.0 Earthquake - East of Kuril Islands on Wednesday, Oct 14, 2015, at 03:43 pm (GMT +10)

A very strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean 113 km (70 mi) from  Russia in the early afternoon of Wednesday, Oct 14, 2015 at 3.43 pm local time (GMT +10). The quake had a very shallow depth of 10 km (6 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so).

Very strong mag. 6.0 Earthquake - East of Kuril Islands on Wednesday, Oct 14, 2015, at 03:43 pm (GMT +10) Very strong mag. 6.0 Earthquake - East of Kuril Islands on Wednesday, Oct 14, 2015, at 03:43 pm (GMT +10)
Very strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake at 10 km depth
14 Oct 05:52 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 9 minutes.
Oct 14 07:58: Magnitude recalculated from 5.9 to 6.0.

Earthquake details

Date & timeOct 14, 2015 05:43:08 UTC
Local time at epicenterWednesday, Oct 14, 2015, at 03:43 pm (GMT +10)
StatusConfirmed
Magnitude6.0
Depth10.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude48.89°N / 156.23°E North Pacific Ocean, Russia
Seismic antipode48.89°S / 23.77°W
Shaking intensityStrong shaking near epicenter
Felt0 reports
Primary data sourceGFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Nearest volcanoTao-Rusyr (129 km / 80 mi)
Estimated seismic energy released6.3 x 1013 joules (17.5 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 15080 tons of TNT or 0.9 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy
Interactive map
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Ground shaking from this quake

shake map
Map of estimated ground shaking (source:USGS)

Nearby places

The closest larger town where the quake might have been felt is Severo-Kuril'sk, a town with 2,400 inhabitants in Russia, in 199 km (123 mi) distance north of the epicenter. People likely experienced light shaking there.
The following table shows some of the places that might have been affected (or not) by the shaking.
Distance Place Max. shaking intensity(*) Region Country
199 km (123 mi)
N of epicenter
Severo-Kuril'sk
(pop: 2,420)
IV: Light
Sakhalin
291 km (181 mi)
N of epicenter
Ozernovskiy
(pop: 2,620)
III: Weak
Kamchatka
Notes:
(*) Shaking intensity according to the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) and estimated using seismic models.

User-reports for this quake

There are no user reports for this quake yet.

If you felt it, be the first to report it!
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
There are no user reports for this quake.

Compare Quake Data

Data for the same earthquake as reported by different agencies

The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag Depth Time GMT
2015-10-14
Epicenter Agency
6.0 10 km
6.2 mi
(*)
05:43:08 East of Kuril Islands GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
5.9 10 km
6.2 mi
(*)
05:43:08 EAST OF KURIL ISLANDS
7.9 km (4.9 mi) epicenter difference with GFZ
EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre)
5.9 6 km
3.7 mi
05:43:07 - 203km S of Severo-Kuril'sk, Russia
4.5 km (2.8 mi) epicenter difference with GFZ
USGS (United States Geological Survey)
6.0 20 km
12 mi
05:43:08 千岛群岛
2.5 km (1.5 mi) epicenter difference with GFZ
CEIC (China Earthquake Networks Center)
Notes:
(*) A depth given as 10 km often means that the the depth of the quake could not determined with sufficient accuracy.

Seismograms

Seismic station: Petropavlovsk, Russia (PET/IU network) | Distance from quake: 490 km / 304 mi | Show on map | Station Info
Seismic station Petropavlovsk, Russia: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)
Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.1-10.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool
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6 aftershocks for this quake

For this earthquake, 6 aftershocks have been detected so far. The strongest was a magnitude 5.1 quake that hit 7 minutes after the mainshock in 6.1 km (3.8 mi) distance, in East of Kuril Islands on Wednesday, Oct 14, 2015 on 03:49 pm (- local time GMT +10).
The most recent aftershock occurred 8 years ago KURIL ISLANDS and had a magnitude of 4.3.

What are aftershocks?


Larger earthquakes (above magnitude 5 or so) such as this one are usually followed by smaller ones known as aftershocks that occur in the same area during the days, weeks, months or even years after the main shock.
[More info]

What about this quake?


Based on its magnitude, the fault that was active during the quake likely ruptured beneath a surface of approx. 100 km2 (=39 sqare miles) as a first-order estimate. The length of the rupture zone thus was probably around 17 km (11 mi).
[More info]


Recorded aftershocks, latest first (6 quakes)

Date and Time GMTMag
Depth
DistanceRegionDetails
Oct 15, 2015 02:30 am (GMT +10)
8 years ago
11 hours after main shock
4.3

45 km
18 km (11 mi)
NW of main shock
KURIL ISLANDSMore
Oct 15, 2015 01:16 am (GMT +10)
8 years ago
10 hours after main shock
4.3

45 km
5.1 km (3.2 mi)
W of main shock
EAST OF KURIL ISLANDSMore
Oct 14, 2015 08:10 pm (GMT +10)
8 years ago
4 hours after main shock
4.2

45 km
9.7 km (6.1 mi)
NE of main shock
EAST OF KURIL ISLANDSMore
Oct 14, 2015 06:38 pm (GMT +10)
8 years ago
2 hours and 56 minutes after main shock
4.5

45 km
21 km (13 mi)
N of main shock
KURIL ISLANDSMore
Oct 14, 2015 04:57 pm (GMT +10)
8 years ago
1 hour and 15 minutes after main shock
4.7

40 km
2.7 km (1.7 mi)
NW of main shock
Russia, 196 km S of Severo-Kuril'sk, Sakhalin More
Oct 14, 2015 03:49 pm (GMT +10)
8 years ago
7 minutes after main shock
5.1

10 km
6.1 km (3.8 mi)
NE of main shock
East of Kuril IslandsMore
Oct 14, 2015 03:43 pm (GMT +10)
8 years ago
6.0

10 km
0 km - This quakeNorth Pacific Ocean, Russia, 475 km S of Vilyuchinsk, Yelizovsky District, Kamchatka
Main Shock (this quake)
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Map of aftershocks

Previous quakes in the same area of this earthquake

Map of earlier quakes in the area of this quake

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