M4.8 Earthquake Strikes North Atlantic Ocean

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck the North Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 14, 2026, at 3:02 a.m. UTC, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The agency put the epicenter on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, roughly equidistant between South America and Africa, at a depth of 10 kilometers.

The location has no nearby coastline or population center; USGS lists the place simply as "North Atlantic Ocean."

Quakes this size are not routine here. A station baseline computed from the USGS catalog finds that earthquakes of about this size or larger have not occurred within 300 kilometers of this epicenter in the past 30 years, which is what makes an otherwise moderate reading notable at a stretch of ridge far from the cluster of seismicity most associated with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.