M5.9 Earthquake near southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge — December 15, 2023
2023-12-15 22:23:42 UTC (2023-12-15) · approx. 9:23 PM UTC-1 local
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On December 15, 2023 at 22:23 UTC, a magnitude 5.9 shallow crustal earthquake struck near southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, at a depth of 10.0 km and coordinates -35.9655°, -17.0092°.0 The USGS PAGER system issued a green alert level for this event, indicating no significant casualties or damage expected. This earthquake was detected by 85 seismic stations with excellent location accuracy and was assigned a USGS significance rating of 536, placing it among routine seismic activity.
Physical scale: An earthquake of magnitude 5.9 releases seismic energy equivalent to roughly 11 kilotons of TNT. Empirical fault-scaling laws (Wells & Coppersmith, 1994) estimate the subsurface rupture length at approximately 7.1 km — a useful intuition for the size of the slip patch on the fault.
ShakeMap — predicted shaking intensity
Modeled ground-motion intensity contoured on the Modified Mercalli scale (MMI). Computed by the USGS from the moment-tensor solution and regional ground-motion prediction equations.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey ShakeMap. View interactive ShakeMap on USGS
Did You Feel It? — community-reported shaking
Aggregated felt-report intensity from submitted citizen responses to the USGS Did You Feel It? system. Each colored zone represents the average MMI from reports in that area.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey Did You Feel It?. View on USGS · submit your own report
Earthquake Details
-17.0092°E
Technical Information
Common Questions
How strong was the magnitude 5.9 earthquake near southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge?
The magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck near southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge on December 15, 2023 at 22:23 UTC had a depth of 10.0 km. For context, this was a moderate earthquake that could be widely felt.
Where did the earthquake occur?
The earthquake epicenter was located at -35.9655°, -17.0092°, which is near southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Were there aftershocks?
Aftershock activity is monitored continuously by the USGS. Aftershock sequences from magnitude 5.9 earthquakes can continue for days to weeks and gradually diminish over time.
Actions
Authoritative source: USGS event page (event ID: us7000ljf2). All scientific values on this page are sourced verbatim from the USGS feed.
Cite this page: EarthquakeTracker.org. (2023, December 15, 2023). M5.9 Earthquake near southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge — December 15, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2024 from https://www.earthquaketracker.org/earthquakes/event/us7000ljf2/