M6.1 Earthquake south of Africa — December 22, 2023
2023-12-22 17:36:32 UTC (2023-12-22) · approx. 7:36 PM UTC+2 local
Felt by 1 person across nearby locations. 0
On December 22, 2023 at 17:36 UTC, a magnitude 6.1 shallow crustal earthquake struck south of Africa, at a depth of 10.0 km and coordinates -52.0879°, 27.9516°.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 284 seismic stations with excellent location accuracy and was assigned a USGS significance rating of 572, placing it among routine seismic activity.
Physical scale: An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 releases seismic energy equivalent to roughly 21 kilotons of TNT. Empirical fault-scaling laws (Wells & Coppersmith, 1994) estimate the subsurface rupture length at approximately 9.7 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 1 citizen response 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
27.9516°E
Technical Information
Common Questions
How strong was the magnitude 6.1 earthquake south of Africa?
The magnitude 6.1 earthquake that struck south of Africa on December 22, 2023 at 17:36 UTC had a depth of 10.0 km. For context, this was a strong earthquake capable of causing significant damage.
Where did the earthquake occur?
The earthquake epicenter was located at -52.0879°, 27.9516°, which is south of Africa.
Were there aftershocks?
Aftershock activity is monitored continuously by the USGS. Aftershock sequences from magnitude 6.1 earthquakes can continue for weeks to months and gradually diminish over time.
Actions
Authoritative source: USGS event page (event ID: us7000lkxb). All scientific values on this page are sourced verbatim from the USGS feed.
Cite this page: EarthquakeTracker.org. (2023, December 22, 2023). M6.1 Earthquake south of Africa — December 22, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2024 from https://www.earthquaketracker.org/earthquakes/event/us7000lkxb/