© Volcano Discovery
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the quake hit on Tuesday 1 December 2020 at 7.54 am local time at a great depth of 585 km. The strength of the earthquake may have been tempered by its relative great depth below the surface, which makes it feel weaker in absolute terms.
The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) which listed the quake at magnitude 6.4. Other agencies reporting the same quake include Geoscience Australia (GeoAu) at magnitude 6.4, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) at magnitude 6.3, and European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) at magnitude 6.0.
Generally quakes of this magnitude are recorded by more than one agency and the results can vary, with subsequent reports that come in after the first one often showing more accuracy.
Towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Sovetskaya Gavan' (pop. 29,700) located 89 km from the epicenter, Vanino (pop. 18,600) 103 km away, Uglegorsk (pop. 12,700) 133 km away, and Shakhtersk (pop. 10,100) 144 km away.
Comment: On Nov. 29th at 1311UT Earth-orbiting satellites detected the biggest solar flare in more than 3 years.
Apart from this very deep Russian earthquake, other seismic and volcanic activity around this time include: