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Minor mag. 1.7 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 9.5 km northwest of Whakatane, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, on Monday, Dec 5, 2022 at 4:34 am (GMT +13) -

Minor magnitude 1.7 earthquake at 4 km depth

4 Dec 15:37 UTC: First to report: GEONET (NZ) after 2 minutes.
4 Dec 15:38: Magnitude recalculated from 1.9 to 2.0. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 5.9 to 5.0 km (from 3.7 to 3.1 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 7.1 km (4.4 mi) towards WNW.
4 Dec 15:44: Magnitude recalculated from 2.0 to 1.8. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 5.0 to 3.5 km (from 3.1 to 2.2 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 1.3 km (0.8 mi) towards SE.
4 Dec 15:54: Magnitude recalculated from 1.8 to 1.7. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 3.5 to 4.4 km (from 2.2 to 2.7 mi).

Earthquake details

Date & time	Dec 4, 2022 15:34:48 UTC -
Local time at epicenter	Monday, Dec 5, 2022 at 4:34 am (GMT +13)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	1.7
Depth	4.4 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	37.88813°S / 176.92389°E (South Pacific Ocean, New Zealand)
Antipode	37.888°N / 3.076°W
Shaking intensity	Very weak shaking
Felt	0 reports
Primary data source	GEONET (NZ) (Earthquake Commission and Geological Survey, New Zealand)
Nearest volcano	Okataina (Tarawera) (45 km / 28 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	10 km (6 mi) NW of Whakatane (pop: 18,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 13 km (8 mi) NE of Edgecumbe (pop: 1,790) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 31 km (19 mi) NE of Kawerau (pop: 6,700) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 35 km (21 mi) WNW of Opotiki (pop: 4,040) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 66 km (41 mi) ENE of Rotorua (pop: 65,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 70 km (44 mi) ESE of Tauranga (pop: 110,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 127 km (79 mi) NW of Gisborne (pop: 34,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 420 km (261 mi) NNE of Wellington (pop: 381,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Few Clouds 12.4°C (54 F), humidity: 99%, wind: 4 m/s (9 kts) from WSW
Estimated seismic energy released	2.2 x 10⁷ joules (6.22 kilowatt hours) \| about seismic energy

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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.

Mag.	Depth	Location	Source
1.7	4.4 km	New Zealand	GEONET (NZ)
1.7	4.4 km	North Island, New Zealand	RaspberryShake

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Seismograms

Seismic station: South Karori, New Zealand (SNZO/IU network) | Distance from quake: 425 km / 264 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station South Karori, New Zealand: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.5-10.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

User reports for this quake

At magnitude 1.7, such a quake wouldn't normally be felt by people, but could be recorded instrumentally.

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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