QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

11 km N of Caldwell, Kansas

· 3.7 km deep · released about 6.6 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sumner County 15 kmHarper County 41 kmGrant County 42 kmKay County 55 kmSedgwick County 62 kmKingman County 66 kmCowley County 70 kmAlfalfa County 78 kmGarfield County 86 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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
3.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sumner County, 15 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3111 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 6.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.6 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 37.1353, -97.6128. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sumner County, KS 15 km (10 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Sumner County
Harper County, KS 41 km (25 mi) E of here earthquakes near Harper County
Grant County, OK 42 km (26 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Grant County
Kay County, OK 55 km (34 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Kay County
Sedgwick County, KS 62 km (39 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Sedgwick County
Kingman County, KS 66 km (41 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

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

  1. 1.9 2 km W of Freeport, Kansas
  2. 4.3 9 km ESE of Jefferson, Oklahoma
  3. 1.5 3 km N of Anthony, Kansas
  4. 1.7 1 km NNW of Argonia, Kansas
  5. 1.8 10 km SSE of Milan, Kansas
  6. 1.7 5 km E of Harper, Kansas
  7. 1.8 10 km SSW of Bluff City, Kansas
  8. 1.5 10 km SSE of Milan, Kansas
  9. 2.7 10 km ESE of Jefferson, Oklahoma
  10. 2.3 10 km SSE of Milan, Kansas
  11. 1.9 10 km SSE of Milan, Kansas
  12. 2.4 10 km SSE of Milan, Kansas
  13. 3.4 7 km S of Cheney, Kansas
  14. 1.6 6 km N of Argonia, Kansas
  15. 1.7 10 km SSW 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 6,500 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.