Moderate mag. 4.8 earthquake - Coral Sea, Vanuatu, on Wednesday, 25 December 1985 at 18:10 (GMT)

Moderate mag. 4.8 earthquake - Coral Sea, Vanuatu, on Wednesday, 25 December 1985 at 18:10 (GMT)

Moderate magnitude 4.8 earthquake at 33 km depth

Date & time: 25 Dec 1985 18:10:31 UTC
Magnitude: 4.8
Depth: 33.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 14.278°S / 166.288°E (Coral Sea, Vanuatu)
Nearest volcano: Gaua (131 km / 81 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
120 km (74 mi) NW of Port-Olry (pop: 1,950) --> See nearby quakes!
143 km (89 mi) WSW of Sola (pop: 1,170) --> See nearby quakes!
167 km (104 mi) NW of Luganville (pop: 13,400) --> See nearby quakes!
232 km (144 mi) NNW of Norsup (pop: 3,000) --> See nearby quakes!
399 km (248 mi) S of Lata (Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands) (pop: 553) --> See nearby quakes!
441 km (274 mi) NNW of Port Vila (pop: 35,900) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 1 x 1012 joules (278 megawatt hours, equivalent to 239 tons of TNT) More info
Show interactive Map
[smaller] [bigger]
If you felt this quake (or if you were near the epicenter), please share your experience and submit a short "I felt it" report! Other users would love to hear about it!
Also if you did NOT feel the quake although you were in the area, please report it! Your contribution is valuable also to earthquake science and earthquake hazard analysis and mitigation efforts. You can use your device location or the map to indicate where you were during the earthquake. Thank you!

Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies

Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
MagnitudeDepthLocationSource
M 4.833 kmVanuatuUSGS
Note: for quakes of 2012 and earlier, our database often contains only records from USGS.

User reports for this quake

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
There are no user reports for this quake yet. If you felt it be the first to report it!
Volcanoes & Earthquakes - new app for Android

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Volcanoes & Earthquakes - new app for Android
Why is there advertising on this site?
Support us - Help us upgrade our services!
We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world. Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources.
We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please make a donation (PayPal or Online credit card payment).

Planned features:
  • Weather reports
  • Tsunami alerts
  • Design upgrades
  • Faster responsiveness
Thanks to your past donations, these features have been added recently:
  • Earthquake archive from 1900 onwards
  • Additional seismic data sources
  • Improved content in English
Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online:
Android | IOS
Thank you!
Copyrights: VolcanoDiscovery and other sources as noted.
Use of material: Most texts and images, in particular photographs, on this website are protected by copyright. Further reproduction and use of without authorization is usually not consented. If you are not sure or need licensing rights for photographs, for example for publications and commercial use, please contact us.