QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

6 km NNE of Bluff City, Kansas

· 4.8 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Harper County 20 kmSumner County 34 kmGrant County 39 kmKingman County 54 kmAlfalfa County 61 kmSedgwick County 70 kmKay County 72 kmBarber County 74 kmGarfield County 84 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
4.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Harper County, 20 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3182 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 12 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 80× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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 37.1312, -97.8530. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Harper County, KS 20 km (12 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Harper County
Sumner County, KS 34 km (21 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Sumner County
Grant County, OK 39 km (24 mi) N of here earthquakes near Grant County
Kingman County, KS 54 km (33 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Kingman County
Alfalfa County, OK 61 km (38 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Alfalfa County
Sedgwick County, KS 70 km (44 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Sedgwick County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.6 1 km SSE of Renfrow, Oklahoma
  2. 2.0 5 km SSE of Bluff City, Kansas
  3. 1.8 3 km E of Freeport, Kansas
  4. 1.6 6 km SE of Anthony, Kansas
  5. 2.7 11 km SW of Wakita, Oklahoma
  6. 2.5 8 km W of Deer Creek, Oklahoma
  7. 1.7 6 km S of Freeport, Kansas
  8. 3.1 3 km E of Freeport, Kansas
  9. 1.7 7 km NNW of Renfrow, Oklahoma
  10. 1.8 4 km NW of Bluff City, Kansas
  11. 1.7 1 km SW of Anthony, Kansas
  12. 2.2 5 km E of Harper, Kansas
  13. 1.6 7 km E of Freeport, Kansas
  14. 2.5 4 km NW of Braman, Oklahoma
  15. 1.7 6 km NNE 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 3,600 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.