Every earthquake recorded in the last 24 hours on a live 3D globe, with the significant events of the
past week and what each one means. Updated every minute from the USGS feed.
Loading the live globe…
Recent earthquakes on EarthBrowser’s globe, sized by magnitude, centered on today’s largest near Kavieng, Papua New Guinea. Tap one to open its 3D cross-section; drag to look around.
The full globe shows every earthquake with depth, a time scrubber to replay the last days, and a 3D cross-section for any event with its aftershocks and the plate boundary beneath.
Significant earthquakes, past 7 days
Magnitude 4.5 and above, newest first. Each links to a page with the event's details, nearby aftershocks and a 3D view.
Earth has about 55 earthquakes a day of magnitude 4.5 or more and well over a hundred smaller ones that make the
global catalog, so a busy-looking day is usually a normal one. Most happen along plate boundaries: the Pacific
"Ring of Fire" from Chile up through Alaska and down through Japan to New Zealand, the Alpine-Himalayan belt from
the Mediterranean to Indonesia, and the mid-ocean ridges.
Magnitude tells you how much energy was released; depth tells you how much of that reached the surface. A shallow
magnitude 6 near a town can be far more damaging than a magnitude 7 hundreds of kilometers down. The 3D view in
EarthBrowser places each hypocenter at its true depth so the difference is visible.
Frequently asked questions
Was there an earthquake just now?
If you felt shaking, it usually appears in the USGS feed within a few minutes, faster in well-instrumented regions like California, Japan or Italy. This page refreshes every minute; the EarthBrowser globe shows new events as they are published.
How many earthquakes happen every day?
Globally, about 55 of magnitude 4.5 or more, roughly 1,500 of magnitude 2 or more that are catalogued, and many thousands too small to locate. Magnitude 7 or greater strike about 15 times a year; magnitude 8 or greater about once a year.
What counts as a significant earthquake?
This page lists magnitude 4.5 and above, the threshold at which an earthquake is reliably detected and located worldwide and is likely to be felt. USGS’s own "significant" feed also weighs felt reports and damage, so small quakes under cities can qualify there.
Why are there so many earthquakes in the same places?
Earthquakes concentrate along the boundaries between tectonic plates, where plates slide past, collide or dive beneath one another. About 90% of the world’s earthquakes and 80% of the largest ones occur around the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Where does the data come from?
From the U.S. Geological Survey real-time GeoJSON feeds, which combine the USGS National Earthquake Information Center with contributing seismic networks worldwide. EarthBrowser keeps ten years of events for the historical view in the app.
EarthBrowser