A restless planet

A dot on a map gives an earthquake a place. Add time and depth, and a different planet emerges.

Replay 145 magnitude 6+ earthquakes from 2025. Look for the deep events: they are not always the biggest circles. Then follow four observations into the landscape.

The catalog records locations, magnitudes and depths. These measurements do not describe local damage or what people experienced.

Use this story to explore locations, timing and depth. To understand an individual event, follow its USGS record and the relevant local reporting.

USGS Earthquake Catalog · 2025 selection All cataloged earthquake events from 1 January through 31 December 2025 UTC, minimum magnitude 6; no geographic filter. Retrieved snapshot, not a live feed.

The Science of Earthquakes Background on faults, plate boundaries and how earthquakes are measured.

Magnitude and shaking intensity Why magnitude and the experience of shaking are different measurements.

How this edition was made 145 events in this edition. Magnitudes, depths and locations may be revised by USGS after retrieval. Circle size is a visual encoding of magnitude, not a shaking footprint or an energy-proportional area. This retrospective is not a hazard forecast. The globe clips points on the far hemisphere. The depth-versus-longitude plot combines all latitudes; it is not a subsurface section. Replay preserves event order but compresses elapsed time.

Data retrieved 2026-09-13. Native maps and original narrative by Atlas Storymaps. Source data: USGS. Natural Earth and USGS-produced source data are public domain. Basemap and terrain providers are credited on each map.