Earthquakes in South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2,878 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands. 4 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.1 on August 12, 2021 (2021 South Sandwich Islands Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 7 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 5.1 on October 19 (South Sandwich Islands region).
What the record holds
2 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records no deaths for any of them. 2021 had the most magnitude 4.5+ earthquakes: 1,081 of the 2,878. 476 came in the 30 days after the strongest, within 150 km of it. NOAA lists one tsunami that began in or off South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands. It reached 0.64 m, on August 12, 2021.
The events
- August 22, 2021Earthquake · M 7.1South Sandwich Islands regionUSGS
- August 16, 2021Earthquake · M 6.9South Sandwich Islands regionUSGS
- August 12, 2021Earthquake · M 8.12021 South Sandwich Islands EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 12, 2021Earthquake · M 7.5South Sandwich Islands regionUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 12, 2021Tsunami · 0.64 m highSouthern Atlantic OceanNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 11, 2018Earthquake · M 7.1South Sandwich Islands regionUSGS
Good to know
- An event counts for South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands 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 South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands is the nearest country.
- USGS counts are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- 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 South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, 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