Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
Earthquake near Wellington, KS
No earthquake was likely felt in Wellington in the 24 hours to 7:34 am CST (13:34 UTC). The last one was M 3.4, 194 km (120 mi) SSW, at 5:53 am CST on 7 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 23 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Wellington
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 39 km (24 mi) west-southwest of Wellington, KS, at 5:55 pm CDT on 29 March 2018 (22:55 UTC), 4.9 km deep.
USGS: 7 km ESE of Freeport, Kansas
71 km (44 mi) SW of Wichita, KS
- When
- 5:55 pm CDT on 29 March 2018 ()
- Where
- 39 km (24 mi) west-southwest of Wellington, KS · earthquakes near Wellington
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 4.9 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Harper County, 25 km W
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3145 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Wellington, KS
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 8 km (5 mi) from the epicentre. In Wellington, 39 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Anthony, Caldwell, Harper, Conway Springs.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 8.7 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,700,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.7 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.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.1 on 2017-03-29 — about 4,900 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.
Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.
Where
Epicentre 37.1635, -97.7897. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harper County, KS | 25 km (15 mi) | W | earthquakes near Harper County |
| Sumner County, KS | 27 km (17 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Sumner County |
| Grant County, OK | 42 km (26 mi) | S | earthquakes near Grant County |
| Kingman County, KS | 53 km (33 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Kingman County |
| Sedgwick County, KS | 64 km (40 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Sedgwick County |
| Alfalfa County, OK | 68 km (42 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Alfalfa 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.
- 1.7 5 km SSE of Bluff City, Kansas
- 1.6 7 km WSW of Wellington, Kansas
- 2.4 Kansas
- 3.1 8 km W of Deer Creek, Oklahoma
- 2.4 3 km N of Renfrow, Oklahoma
- 2.5 11 km NE of Wakita, Oklahoma
- 1.6 4 km ESE of Freeport, Kansas
- 1.5 4 km ESE of Freeport, Kansas
- 2.3 1 km N of Anthony, Kansas
- 2.6 11 km SSW of Mayfield, Kansas
- 2.6 0 km SW of Wakita, Oklahoma
- 1.7 1 km S of Bluff City, Kansas
- 2.4 7 km NE of Harper, Kansas
- 2.6 8 km NNE of Harper, Kansas
- 2.8 4 km NNW of Medford, Oklahoma
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.
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.