QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1ml

11 km NNW of Caldwell, Kansas

· 5.2 km deep · released about 43 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sumner County 19 kmHarper County 37 kmGrant County 40 kmKay County 57 kmSedgwick County 64 kmKingman County 64 kmCowley County 73 kmAlfalfa County 74 kmGarfield County 85 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 2.1 (ml)
Depth
5.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sumner County, 19 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3457 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 43 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

Where

Epicentre 37.1305, -97.6543. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sumner County, KS 19 km (12 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Sumner County
Harper County, KS 37 km (23 mi) E of here earthquakes near Harper County
Grant County, OK 40 km (25 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Grant County
Kay County, OK 57 km (36 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Kay County
Sedgwick County, KS 64 km (39 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Sedgwick County
Kingman County, KS 64 km (40 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Kingman County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

59 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.6 9 km W of Bluff City, Kansas
  2. 2.2 11 km SSE of Milan, Kansas
  3. 3.7 3 km NNW of Freeport, Kansas
  4. 1.5 9 km W of Bluff City, Kansas
  5. 1.6 9 km W of Bluff City, Kansas
  6. 2.8 10 km W of Lamont, Oklahoma
  7. 2.2 2 km SE of Bluff City, Kansas
  8. 2.6 10 km W of Lamont, Oklahoma
  9. 2.3 4 km SE of Freeport, Kansas
  10. 2.7 9 km W of Lamont, Oklahoma
  11. 3.3 10 km W of Lamont, Oklahoma
  12. 1.9 3 km NNW of Freeport, Kansas
  13. 2.0 6 km SSE of Bluff City, Kansas
  14. 2.2 9 km W of Bluff City, Kansas
  15. 1.7 6 km SSE of Bluff City, Kansas

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.1 on 2017-03-29 — it released about 1,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.