Posted on by Jón Frímann

Earthquake with the magnitude of ML4.7 in Hawaii Island

Last night at 02:36 UTC (23.01.2012) there was an earthquake with the magnitude of ML4.7 in Hawaii Island. This earthquake was felt according to what I have been reading about on the forum. This earthquake activity is most likely due to changes in tectonic stresses in the area. Rather then anything volcanic.


The location of the earthquake. Copyright of this picture belongs to EMSC-CSEM.


Location of the earthquake from USGS. Copyright of this picture belongs to USGS.

The largest aftershock following this earthquake did get the size ML3.1 Earthquake activity is currently ongoing. But I do not know to what extent exactly. Sharp aftershocks should be expected in this area in the next few hours to days.

M 5.0 – ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII – 2012-01-23 02:36 UTC (EMSC)
Magnitude 4.7 – ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII (USGS)

9 Replies to “Earthquake with the magnitude of ML4.7 in Hawaii Island”

  1. It could prove interesting, what i would like to see is the data or the rift/fault area Is it moving or not? Not that it is likely in any human time scale but a mass slump would not be a good thing for the pacific basin

    1. Hawaii is a relatively young volcanic island, hence it’s rock is “softer” than some older rocks. I do not expect any major landslides. However, a new fissure may open in the future.

  3. Indeed this does look like tectonic stresses. But in Oct 2011, Mauna Kaea had earthquakes and they were dismissed as tectonic but the 3d plot, iirc, showed a vertical orientation like a magma conduit under the mountain not far off the summit. They even evacuated the observatories on the summit. When billions of dollars of telescope equipment and many ‘jobs’ are at stake, I can understand why it was dismissed like that.

    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/earthquake-swarm-at-mauna-kea-in-hawaii/

    1. Not so sure that they were dismissed but the then thinking was that this was a dormant volcano.

  4. A strong CME has just hit the Earth’s magnetic field, bright auroras are expected!

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