QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

10 km NE of Laytonsville, Maryland

· 2.0 km deep · released about 5.7 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Howard County 11 kmMontgomery County 21 kmCarroll County 32 kmFrederick County 37 kmBaltimore city 38 kmBaltimore County 42 kmDistrict of Columbia 42 kmArlington County 45 kmFalls Church city 45 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
2.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Howard County, 11 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1962 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 5.7 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.7 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.

Where

Epicentre 39.2795, -77.0512. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Howard County, MD 11 km (7 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Howard County
Montgomery County, MD 21 km (13 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Montgomery County
Carroll County, MD 32 km (20 mi) S of here earthquakes near Carroll County
Frederick County, MD 37 km (23 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Frederick County
Baltimore city, MD 38 km (24 mi) W of here earthquakes near Baltimore city
Baltimore County, MD 42 km (26 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Baltimore County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 4 km E of Riverside, Maryland
  2. 1.8 1 km NE of Spencerville, Maryland
  3. 2.3 0 km WSW of Rockville, Maryland
  4. 2.0 4 km ESE of Sykesville, Maryland
  5. 1.7 0 km S of Woodlawn, Maryland
  6. 2.1 Clarksville, Maryland
  7. 1.6 1 km NNW of Irvington, Maryland
  8. 2.6 2 km SE of Woodlawn, Maryland

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

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