EARTHQUAKEM4.5

M4.5 earthquake near San Antonio de los Cobres, Argentina

Map: the earthquake near San Antonio de los Cobres, Argentina, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 79 km (49 mi) west of San Antonio de los Cobres, Argentina on Monday, October 19, 2026 at 07:33 UTC, at a depth of 170 km (106 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At this intermediate depth, shaking spreads out before it reaches the surface. The nearest city of a million or more people is Cochabamba, Bolivia, about 768 km (477 mi) away.

MagnitudeM4.5
Depth170 km (106 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 19 07:33
Location24.26°S 67.10°W
Nearest townSan Antonio de los Cobres · 79 km
Energy85 tons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+0
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck 170 km (106 mi) down, about 442 km (275 mi) from the nearest plate boundary on the surface. Quakes this deep happen inside old ocean plate that has sunk far into the mantle at a subduction zone, long after it dove beneath its neighbor. Their great depth spreads the shaking over a wide area but usually keeps it gentle at the surface.

The red lines on the map are plate boundaries.

How strong was it?

Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step releases about 32 times more energy. This magnitude 4.5 released roughly the energy of 85 tons of TNT. That is about 5.6 times the energy of a magnitude 4.0, a quake people nearby feel but that rarely causes damage. The strongest earthquake ever recorded, magnitude 9.5 in Chile in 1960, released about 32,000,000 times more than this one.

Aftershocks

In the first 7 days after it, USGS recorded no smaller earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 100 km (62 mi).

A stronger magnitude 4.5 followed on October 23 at 00:09 UTC, about 23 km (14 mi) away, so this one is now considered a foreshock.

Outside the United States, USGS mainly lists quakes of about magnitude 4 and up, so smaller aftershocks there are undercounted.

Earthquake history here

Before this earthquake, USGS had recorded 59 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger within 300 km (186 mi) since 1900. The strongest:

Official details, updates and the shaking map: USGS event page.

See every earthquake on October 19, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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