Tennant Creek shaken by three morning earthquakes, largest at 3.3 magnitude

It was a shaky start for Tennant Creek locals, who were woken by three earthquakes within 15 minutes. Find out more.

Three earthquakes have been recorded in Tennant Creek by Geoscience Australia

Tennant Creek was rocked by three major earthquakes in 1988 and the aftershocks are being felt to this day, with three quakes shaking the town on Friday morning.

An earthquake measuring at 3.3 magnitude was the largest reported to Geoscience Australia at 7.51am on Friday, the second of the three quakes.

The first earthquake was reported at 7.44am, measuring at 2.8 magnitude, and the third, a 2.7 magnitude quake, was reported at 8am.

Senior seismologist Jonathan Griffin said Friday’s earthquakes – as well as many others experienced in Tennant Creek – could be attributed to major seismic activity that struck the Territory town nearly 50 years ago.

Three earthquake have been recorded in Tennant Creek.

“In Tennant Creek, in 1988 there was a magnitude 6.6 earthquake and then a 6.3 and a 6.2 all within the space of about 12 hours,” he said.

“These earthquakes that we’re seeing today are still aftershocks that began then.

“The whole area was not doing a lot and then we had these big earthquakes in 1988; we’ve continued to have aftershocks since then.

“In 2019, we had a magnitude five, which is still part of this kind of bigger aftershock sequence.

“That is something that is sort of unique to places like Australia and other parts of the world that are kind of far from a plate boundary, you have these long aftershock sequences that can last decades.”

Earthquakes recorded in Tennant Creek.

In 2024, 28 earthquakes were recorded near Tennant Creek, with 160 in the last 10 years, and more than 1500 recorded since the 1988 earthquakes.

Mr Griffin said seismic activity in Tennant Creek occurred more often than many other earthquake hotspots in Australia.

He said that while these earthquakes may have been heard or felt, it was unlikely that there would be any damage due to the magnitude.

These earthquakes come just days after Geoscience Australia reported Darwin was on shakier ground than ever after a study revealed the scientific understanding of how strong ground shaking was in the Top End didn’t match what was felt during an earthquake.

“We now know the level of risk in Darwin is higher than previously understood, because we have a much better understanding of how earthquakes in the Banda Sea - which are felt quite strongly in the area - affect the hazard,” senior seismologist Trevor Allan said.

“The shaking energy from Banda Sea earthquakes travels much more efficiently to northern Australia than it does to other places, even places that are much closer to the epicentre.”