Very Strong Mag. 6.0 Earthquake - Balleny Islands Region on Wednesday, Dec 2, 2020, at 06:52 am (GMT +10) -

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Strong mag. 6.0 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, 2 Dec 6.52 am (GMT +10)

A very strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred in the South Pacific Ocean near the coast of n/a in the early morning of Wednesday, Dec 2, 2020 at 6.52 am 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 - Balleny Islands Region on Wednesday, Dec 2, 2020, at 06:52 am (GMT +10)

Very strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake at 10 km depth

1 Dec 21:04 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 11 minutes.
1 Dec 21:12: Magnitude recalculated from 5.6 to 5.7. Epicenter location corrected by 21 km (13 mi) towards WNW.
1 Dec 21:15: Magnitude recalculated from 5.7 to 6.0.

Earthquake details

Date & time	Dec 1, 2020 20:52:58 UTC
Local time at epicenter	Wednesday, Dec 2, 2020, at 06:52 am (GMT +10)
Status	Preliminary (automatic detection)
Magnitude	6.0
Depth	10 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	62°S / 154.53°EInternational Territory (not near any country)
Seismic antipode	62°N / 25.47°W Iceland
Shaking intensity	VI Strong shaking near epicenter
Felt	0 reports
Primary data source	GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Nearest volcano	###NEARESTVOLCANO2###
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Light Rain -0.2°C (32 F), humidity: 98%, wind: 13 m/s (25 kts) from ESE
Estimated seismic energy released	6.3 x 10¹³ joules (17.5 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 15080 tons of TNT or 0.9 atomic bombs!) \| about seismic energy

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User-reports for this quake

There are no user reports for this quake yet.

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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 2020-12-1	Epicenter	Agency
6.0	10 km 6.2 mi (*)	20:52:58	Balleny Islands Region	GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
6.0	2 km 1.2 mi	20:52:55	BALLENY ISLANDS REGION 16 km (10.1 mi) epicenter difference with GFZ	EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre)
6.0	10 km 6.2 mi (*)	20:52:57	Balleny Islands region 12 km (7.5 mi) epicenter difference with GFZ	USGS (United States Geological Survey)
5.6	10 km 6.2 mi (*)	20:52:56	Balleny Islands Region 47 km (29 mi) epicenter difference with GFZ	BMKG (Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia)
6.2	10 km 6.2 mi (*)	20:52:56	Balleny Islands Region 19 km (12 mi) epicenter difference with GFZ	GeoAu (Geoscience Australia )

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: Dry Valley, Vanda, Antarctica (VNDA/GT network) | Distance from quake: 1745 km / 1084 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Dry Valley, Vanda, Antarctica: 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: 0.02-2.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

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Seismic station Dry Valley, Vanda, Antarctica: horizontal (E-W) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Dry Valley, Vanda, Antarctica: horizontal (N-S) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismograms around time of quake, showing horizontal E-W and N-S ground movements. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Seismic station: Casey, Antarctica (CASY/IU network) | Distance from quake: 2138 km / 1328 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Casey, Antarctica: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Casey, Antarctica: horizontal (E-W) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Casey, Antarctica: horizontal (N-S) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismograms around time of quake.
Top: vertical movement, bottom: horizontal (E-W and N-S) movements. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Seismic station: South Karori, New Zealand (SNZO/IU network) | Distance from quake: 2664 km / 1655 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station South Karori, New Zealand: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station South Karori, New Zealand: horizontal (E-W) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station South Karori, New Zealand: horizontal (N-S) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismograms around time of quake.
Top: vertical movement, bottom: horizontal (E-W and N-S) movements. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Seismic station: Raoul, Kermadec Islands (RAO/IU network) | Distance from quake: 4157 km / 2583 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Raoul, Kermadec Islands: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Raoul, Kermadec Islands: horizontal (E-W) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Raoul, Kermadec Islands: horizontal (N-S) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismograms around time of quake.
Top: vertical movement, bottom: horizontal (E-W and N-S) movements. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Seismic station: Charters Towers, Australia (CTAO/IU network) | Distance from quake: 4704 km / 2923 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Charters Towers, Australia: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Charters Towers, Australia: horizontal (E-W) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Charters Towers, Australia: horizontal (N-S) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismograms around time of quake.
Top: vertical movement, bottom: horizontal (E-W and N-S) movements. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Aftershocks for this quake

So far, only one aftershock has been recorded. It hit 5 days after the mainshock in 11.8 km (7 mi) distance. When more aftershocks are detected, we will update this section.

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 (1 quake)

Date and Time GMT	Mag Depth	Distance	Region	Details
Dec 6, 2020 10:11 pm (GMT +10) 3 years ago 5 days after main shock	4.9 10 km	12 km (7.3 mi) NE of main shock	Balleny Islands Region	More
Dec 2, 2020 06:52 am (GMT +10) 3 years ago	6.0 10 km	0 km - This quake	Balleny Islands Region Main Shock (this quake)	More

Map of aftershocks

Previous quakes in the same area of this earthquake

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