2 km NW of Ringwood, New Jersey

2016-01-02 05:58 UTC · 8.2 km deep · released about 40 lb of TNT

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: 2016-01-02 05:58 UTC
Magnitude: M 2.1 (ml)
Depth: 8.2 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Passaic County, 11 km SSW
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 1517 days ago · we first saw it 1517 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 40 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.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 380,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 270,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 24× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.1 about 40 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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 41.1293, -74.2643. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Passaic County, NJ	11 km (7 mi)	NNE of here	earthquakes near Passaic County
Rockland County, NY	20 km (13 mi)	W of here	earthquakes near Rockland County
Bergen County, NJ	25 km (15 mi)	NW of here	earthquakes near Bergen County
Orange County, NY	31 km (19 mi)	S of here	earthquakes near Orange County
Sussex County, NJ	36 km (22 mi)	E of here	earthquakes near Sussex County
Essex County, NJ	38 km (24 mi)	N of here	earthquakes near Essex 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.

2.2 2 km SSW of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York 05:53 UTC
1.7 1 km WSW of Lake Telemark, New Jersey 22:37 UTC
2.3 New Jersey 21:14 UTC
1.6 0 km ENE of Hillcrest, New York 21:48 UTC
1.8 0 km SSW of Clifton, New Jersey 15:38 UTC
1.8 0 km W of Hillcrest, New York 20:22 UTC
2.2 5 km NNW of Lake Mohegan, New York 11:14 UTC
1.7 2 km W of Morristown, New Jersey 22:35 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 07:26 UTC. 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.