🔔 USGS Earthquake Data Scraper — Events by Time & Area

USGS earthquake data as rows: every event in your time window from the official USGS FDSN service, with magnitude, location, depth, time and event ID.

Scrape USGS earthquake events (FDSN): magnitude, location, depth, time and event ID. Run it once and you get the current records as a dataset; put it on a schedule to keep the list current.

Structured seismic event records from the official U.S. Geological Survey FDSN Event web service (earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1), read keyless over GeoJSON. One record per event in your requested time window — official event parameters for exposure joins, carried source-native and verbatim.

Output is one seismic_event_record row per result; billing is pay-per-event, the value event being one seismic event record (a $0.02 start fee per run, then $0.02 per seismic event record). Source: earthquake.usgs.gov.

Who buys this

• Insurance and reinsurance analysts joining USGS earthquake events to exposure.
• Risk, logistics and supply-chain teams screening earthquake data near sites.
• Researchers and journalists pulling earthquake data by time, magnitude and area.

📊 Sample Output

Real rows from run Py4Ow3x6BlyKTWIt6 on build 0.1.8 (2026-09-27), the same input as the Quick start below — every value is as the source published it (emails masked, long text shortened):

event_id	event_type	place	time_epoch_ms	updated_epoch_ms	status
hv74998796	earthquake	33 km SW of Laupāhoehoe, Hawaii	1783468799850	1783469002940	automatic
nc75391711	earthquake	0 km SSW of Angwin, CA	1783468344700	1784500643591	reviewed
tx2026nhcgxp	earthquake	7 km NNW of Nordheim, Texas	1783468343897	1783527550051	reviewed
nc75391706	earthquake	5 km NW of The Geysers, CA	1783468294880	1784496034958	reviewed
aka2026njftrr	earthquake	50 km SSE of Adak, Alaska	1783468167682	1784177495329	reviewed
uu80144826	earthquake	17 km NE of Milford, Utah	1783468025770	1783519782360	reviewed
uu80144821	earthquake	16 km NE of Milford, Utah	1783467842050	1783518875250	reviewed
nn00921304	earthquake	17 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada	1783467391025	1784053297945	reviewed

The run finished with the status message: NORMAL: 50 unique rows (0 duplicates collapsed) from 2026-07-08T00:00:00. billable=50

✅ What you get

Each row is flat JSON with these fields (from the dataset schema and the sample run; a field the source does not publish for a given row is null):

• record_type (string/null) — e.g. seismic_event_record
• event_id (string/null) — e.g. hv74998796
• event_type (string/null) — e.g. earthquake
• magnitude (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. 1.71
• mag_type (string/null) — e.g. md
• place (string/null) — e.g. 33 km SW of Laupāhoehoe, Hawaii
• time_epoch_ms (string/integer/null) — e.g. 1783468799850
• updated_epoch_ms (string/integer/null) — e.g. 1783469002940
• status (string/null) — e.g. automatic
• net (string/null) — e.g. hv
• code (string/null) — e.g. 74998796
• longitude (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. -155.419494628906
• latitude (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. 19.7403335571289
• depth_km (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. 24.8700008392334
• significance (string/integer/null) — e.g. 45
• tsunami_flag (string/integer/null) — e.g. 0
• nst (string/integer/null) — e.g. 20
• event_url (string/null) — e.g. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/hv74998796
• scope_note (string/null) — e.g. official USGS seismic event record for exposure joins; no PAGER alert, shaking i
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/hv74998796
• source (string/null) — e.g. usgs-earthquake-event-feed
• release_date (string/null) — e.g. 2026-07-08T00:00:00
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-09-27T16:43:29Z
• license (string/null) — e.g. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program, FDSN Event web service
• attribution (string/null) — e.g. U.S. Geological Survey — Earthquake Hazards Program (https://earthquake.usgs.gov
• release_checksum (string/null) — null in every sample row
• terminal (string/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row

✅ What you get

• record_type (string/null) — e.g. seismic_event_record
• event_id (string/null) — e.g. hv74998796
• event_type (string/null) — e.g. earthquake
• magnitude (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. 1.71
• mag_type (string/null) — e.g. md
• place (string/null) — e.g. 33 km SW of Laupāhoehoe, Hawaii
• time_epoch_ms (string/integer/null) — e.g. 1783468799850
• updated_epoch_ms (string/integer/null) — e.g. 1783469002940
• status (string/null) — e.g. automatic
• net (string/null) — e.g. hv
• code (string/null) — e.g. 74998796
• longitude (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. -155.419494628906
• latitude (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. 19.7403335571289
• depth_km (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. 24.8700008392334
• significance (string/integer/null) — e.g. 45
• tsunami_flag (string/integer/null) — e.g. 0
• nst (string/integer/null) — e.g. 20
• event_url (string/null) — e.g. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/hv74998796
• scope_note (string/null) — e.g. official USGS seismic event record for exposure joins; no PAGER alert, shaking i
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/hv74998796
• source (string/null) — e.g. usgs-earthquake-event-feed
• release_date (string/null) — e.g. 2026-07-08T00:00:00
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-09-19T02:15:04Z
• license (string/null) — e.g. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program, FDSN Event web service
• attribution (string/null) — e.g. U.S. Geological Survey — Earthquake Hazards Program (https://earthquake.usgs.gov
• release_checksum (string/null) — null in every sample row
• terminal (string/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row

✅ What you get

• record_type (string/null) — e.g. seismic_event_record
• event_id (string/null) — e.g. hv74998796
• event_type (string/null) — e.g. earthquake
• magnitude (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. 1.71
• mag_type (string/null) — e.g. md
• place (string/null) — e.g. 33 km SW of Laupāhoehoe, Hawaii
• time_epoch_ms (string/integer/null) — e.g. 1783468799850
• updated_epoch_ms (string/integer/null) — e.g. 1783469002940
• status (string/null) — e.g. automatic
• net (string/null) — e.g. hv
• code (string/null) — e.g. 74998796
• longitude (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. -155.419494628906
• latitude (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. 19.7403335571289
• depth_km (number/integer/string/null) — e.g. 24.8700008392334
• significance (string/integer/null) — e.g. 45
• tsunami_flag (string/integer/null) — e.g. 0
• nst (string/integer/null) — e.g. 20
• event_url (string/null) — e.g. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/hv74998796
• scope_note (string/null) — e.g. official USGS seismic event record for exposure joins; no PAGER alert, shaking i
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/hv74998796
• source (string/null) — e.g. usgs-earthquake-event-feed
• release_date (string/null) — e.g. 2026-07-08T00:00:00
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-09-19T01:32:41Z
• license (string/null) — e.g. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program, FDSN Event web service
• attribution (string/null) — e.g. U.S. Geological Survey — Earthquake Hazards Program (https://earthquake.usgs.gov
• release_checksum (string/null) — null in every sample row
• terminal (string/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row

What you get

One seismic_event_record per event:

• event_id, event_type, magnitude, mag_type, place, status, net, code
• time_epoch_ms, updated_epoch_ms — origin and last-revision timestamps
• longitude, latitude, depth_km — location for spatial/exposure joins
• significance, tsunami_flag, nst, event_url, release_date, license, attribution

⚙️ Sample inputs

1. Quick start — the Store example (this is what the sample above came from)

{
  "startTime": "2026-07-01",
  "endTime": "2026-07-08",
  "maxRecords": 10
}

The sample run charged exactly: 1 × $0.02 apify-actor-start + 50 × $0.02 seismic_event_record = $1.02 on the Free tier — every delivered row was billed. If you leave maxRecords out, the run delivers at most 50 rows (the schema default); pass a number up to 20000 for a bigger export. An explicit value is always honoured up to that maximum.

2. A smaller, narrowed run

{
  "startTime": "2026-07-01",
  "endTime": "2026-07-08",
  "maxRecords": 5
}

Caps the run at 5 rows — about $0.12 on the Free tier ($0.02 start + 5 × $0.02). startTime narrows what the source is asked for.

3. A full-size run

{
  "startTime": "2026-07-01",
  "endTime": "2026-07-08",
  "maxRecords": 5000
}

Up to 5000 rows — about $100.02 on the Free tier ($0.02 start + 5000 × $0.02) if the source has that many; maxRecords goes up to 20000.

🧾 JSON sample record

One real record from run Py4Ow3x6BlyKTWIt6, exactly as it lands in the dataset (emails masked, long text shortened):

{
  "record_type": "seismic_event_record",
  "event_id": "hv74998796",
  "event_type": "earthquake",
  "magnitude": 1.71,
  "mag_type": "md",
  "place": "33 km SW of Laupāhoehoe, Hawaii",
  "time_epoch_ms": 1783468799850,
  "updated_epoch_ms": 1783469002940,
  "status": "automatic",
  "net": "hv",
  "code": "74998796",
  "longitude": -155.419494628906,
  "latitude": 19.7403335571289,
  "depth_km": 24.8700008392334,
  "significance": 45,
  "tsunami_flag": 0,
  "nst": 20,
  "event_url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/hv74998796",
  "scope_note": "official USGS seismic event record for exposure joins; no PAGER alert, shaking intensity, or loss estimate is included or generated; this is a run-output feed, not a notification service",
  "source_url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/hv74998796",
  "source": "usgs-earthquake-event-feed",
  "release_date": "2026-07-08T00:00:00",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-27T16:43:29Z",
  "license": "U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program, FDSN Event web service — U.S. Government work, public domain. Official seismic event records only; no forecast, PAGER alert, shaking intensity, or loss estimate is generated or deliv",
  "attribution": "U.S. Geological Survey — Earthquake Hazards Program (https://earthquake.usgs.gov/)"
}

🔧 How it works

Source. The actor reads earthquake.usgs.gov — endpoints: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/, https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1, https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query, https://earthquake.usgs.gov/robots.txt. Public pages and feeds only; nothing behind a login.

Transport. Plain HTTPS from the Apify platform, no proxy. robots.txt is read first and a disallowed path is never fetched. Every request carries an identified contact User-Agent. Pacing: CRAWL_DELAY=0.0.

Terminal states. A run ends NORMAL, CAPPED (your cap was reached), PARTIAL (something was withheld and the message says what), GENUINE_EMPTY (the source was read and truly had nothing in scope) or BLOCKED (the source refused or changed shape — the run FAILS loud and bills nothing). A zero-row run is never reported as a silent success.

Charging. Each seismic event record is charged at the moment it is pushed (seismic_event_record); a row that fails to charge is not delivered, so the dataset count always equals the charged count.

Window & the 20,000-event cap

startTime and endTime (ISO) are required — the feed is never queried unbounded. The FDSN service caps a single query at 20,000 events; this actor COUNT-probes your window and recursively partitions it so every underlying query stays under the cap. A window that cannot be split below the cap fails loud (narrow it or add minMagnitude). Optional minMagnitude and a lat/long bounding box further scope the window.

Revisions & integrity

Records are revision-aware: deduped by event_id + updated timestamp, so a re-reviewed event is a distinct record and accidental boundary duplicates collapse. A non-JSON (HTML) or non-GeoJSON response fails loud and bills nothing.

Scope

This is a run-output feed of official event records for exposure joins — not a notification service. It generates and delivers no forecast, PAGER alert, shaking-intensity, or loss estimate; only the seismic event parameters are emitted (scope_note on every record states this).

Robots & door

earthquake.usgs.gov/robots.txt returns 404 (no policy); the actor re-reads it every run and STOPS loudly if USGS ever disallows /fdsnws. It never spoofs or works around a block.

Source & licence

U.S. Geological Survey, Earthquake Hazards Program — U.S. Government work, public domain. Acknowledgement: data from the U.S. Geological Survey (https://earthquake.usgs.gov/).

What is not done. No login, no cookie or CAPTCHA bypass, no private or personal-account data, no browser automation.

⏰ Optional: run it on a schedule

A single run returns the current records. If you also want to be told what changed over time, open the actor in Apify Console → Schedules → Create new, add this actor with the input you want, and pick a cadence:

• Daily — 0 7 * * * (07:00 UTC): catch changes within a day.
• Weekly — 0 7 * * 1: a Monday digest.

Each run is independent; keep the same input on the schedule so the results stay comparable. Schedules can also POST results to a webhook (Console → Integrations).

💰 Pricing example

Event	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02
Seismic event record (seismic_event_record)	$0.02	$0.018	$0.016	$0.0134

Worked at the live Free-tier price:

• 8 seismic event records: $0.02 start + 8 × $0.02 = $0.18
• 25 seismic event records: $0.02 start + 25 × $0.02 = $0.52
• 50 seismic event records: $0.02 start + 50 × $0.02 = $1.02

A run that delivers zero rows charges the $0.02 start fee only. A BLOCKED run (source refused) fails loud and charges no value event. The start fee is charged once per GB of run memory; the default run memory is 4096 MB.

Yield on the sample run: NORMAL: 50 unique rows (0 duplicates collapsed) from 2026-07-08T00:00:00. billable=50. maxRecords is a hard ceiling on what is delivered and billed, never a target.

⚖️ Legal & ToS

This actor reads public, logged-out pages and feeds published by earthquake.usgs.gov. It collects only what the source publishes to any visitor, keeps to the source's robots rules (checked on every run), identifies itself with a contact User-Agent, and does not access accounts, private data or anything behind authentication. Use the output in line with the source's terms and your local law; the intended use is B2B research and monitoring.

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need an API key or a login?
A: No. The source (earthquake.usgs.gov) is read logged-out; the input schema has no key field and the actor carries no secrets.

Q: Why did my run return 0 rows?
A: Read the run's status message. GENUINE_EMPTY means the source was read and had nothing in scope for your input; BLOCKED means the source refused and the run failed without billing a value event — retry later or narrow the input. A zero-row run bills the start fee only.

Q: How many rows can one run return?
A: Up to maxRecords (default 50). Raise the cap for a bigger run; you pay per delivered row.

Q: How fresh is the data?
A: Every run reads the source live at run time; nothing is cached between runs. Put it on a schedule for a continuous feed.

Q: What formats can I export?
A: The dataset downloads as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS from the run's Dataset tab or the Apify API, and any run can push to a webhook or integration.

Q: How is this different from the other NexGen Watch actors actors?
A: Same output shape and billing model; this one covers earthquake.usgs.gov. The siblings under Related Actors cover the other sources or slices — run several on one schedule for a combined feed.

Q: Are there rate limits?
A: The actor paces itself against the source (CRAWL_DELAY=0.0) and honours its robots rules; there is no per-buyer limit beyond your Apify plan's concurrency.

🆘 Troubleshooting

• Run FAILED with BLOCKED → the source refused the request or changed its page shape → nothing was billed beyond the start fee; retry after a while, and if it persists open an Issue with the run id.
• Status says CAPPED → your cap (maxRecords) was reached → raise it for a bigger run.
• Input validation error on start → a field is outside the schema's allowed values → start from the Quick start block and change one field at a time.
• Run TIMED-OUT → a very wide request on a slow day → raise the run timeout in Run options or narrow the input; what was delivered before the timeout is still in the dataset.

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⭐ Found this useful?

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