QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5ml

5 km WNW of Willow Creek, Montana

· 18 km deep · released about 2.6 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Jefferson County 42 kmGallatin County 55 kmBroadwater County 57 kmMadison County 60 kmSilver Bow County 74 kmPark County 100 kmMeagher County 102 kmDeer Lodge County 115 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 3.5 (ml)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
16 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Jefferson County, 42 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1963 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 16 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 65,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,900× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.6 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.4× more

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 45.8420, -111.7045. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Jefferson County, MT 42 km (26 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Jefferson County
Gallatin County, MT 55 km (34 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Gallatin County
Broadwater County, MT 57 km (35 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Broadwater County
Madison County, MT 60 km (37 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Madison County
Silver Bow County, MT 74 km (46 mi) E of here earthquakes near Silver Bow County
Park County, MT 100 km (62 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Park 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. 2.3 7 km W of Willow Creek, Montana
  2. 2.4 6 km W of Willow Creek, Montana
  3. 1.6 13 km WNW of Whitehall, Montana
  4. 1.9 6 km NE of Logan, Montana
  5. 2.2 17 km S of Whitehall, Montana
  6. 1.6 17 km S of Whitehall, Montana
  7. 1.8 4 km W of Ponderosa Pines, Montana
  8. 1.9 17 km S of Whitehall, Montana
  9. 2.4 16 km WNW of Pony, Montana
  10. 1.8 17 km S of Whitehall, Montana
  11. 2.9 15 km S of Whitehall, Montana
  12. 3.3 17 km S of Whitehall, Montana
  13. 2.6 15 km SSE of Elkhorn, Montana
  14. 1.8 17 km S of Whitehall, Montana
  15. 3.3 17 km SSW of Whitehall, Montana

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 4.0 on 2016-09-03 — it released about 6.5 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.