Earthquakes in Antarctica through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 28 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Antarctica. 5 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.7 on November 17, 2013 (Scotia Sea).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 6 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.8 on October 22 (Balleny Islands region). The strongest: magnitude 5.9 on October 9 (west of Macquarie Island).
What the record holds
NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 5 here, back to 1907. NOAA records no deaths for any of them. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.6 on October 10, 2025 (Drake Passage). NOAA’s record here begins on December 4, 1967 with an eruption (Deception Island). NOAA lists 6 tsunamis that began in or off Antarctica. The highest water NOAA records here was 1 m, in February 2025. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off Antarctica. The largest was Deception Island on December 4, 1967, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index.
The events
- October 10, 2025Earthquake · M 7.6Drake PassageUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 22, 2025Earthquake · M 7.52025 Southern Drake Passage EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- February 2025Tsunami · 1 m hereDalk GlacierNOAA NCEI
- November 17, 2013Earthquake · M 7.7Scotia SeaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 4, 2003Earthquake · M 7.6Scotia SeaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- February 8, 1971Earthquake · M 7.0South Shetland IslandsUSGS
- December 4, 1967Eruption · VEI 3Deception IslandNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Antarctica when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Antarctica is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Antarctica, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history