QuakeIndex

quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

1 km SSE of South Hills, Montana

· -2.0 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Broadwater County 44 kmJefferson County 47 kmLewis and Clark County 71 kmPowell County 80 kmMeagher County 81 kmSilver Bow County 89 kmCascade County 99 kmDeer Lodge County 102 kmGranite County 112 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
-2.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Broadwater County, 44 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2704 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 10 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 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 95× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 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 46.5432, -111.9852. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Broadwater County, MT 44 km (27 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Broadwater County
Jefferson County, MT 47 km (29 mi) N of here earthquakes near Jefferson County
Lewis and Clark County, MT 71 km (44 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Lewis and Clark County
Powell County, MT 80 km (49 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Powell County
Meagher County, MT 81 km (51 mi) W of here earthquakes near Meagher County
Silver Bow County, MT 89 km (55 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Silver Bow County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 6 km WSW of Townsend, Montana
  2. 1.7 5 km SSW of The Silos, Montana
  3. 1.6 2 km ENE of South Hills, Montana
  4. 2.1 Western Montana
  5. 1.9 6 km WSW of Elliston, Montana
  6. 2.3 Western Montana
  7. 2.0 6 km WNW of Elliston, Montana
  8. 1.5 5 km W of Townsend, Montana
  9. 1.6 5 km SSW of The Silos, Montana
  10. 1.6 6 km SSW of The Silos, Montana
  11. 1.7 6 km W of Townsend, Montana
  12. 1.5 14 km SSW of Craig, Montana
  13. 1.6 7 km SSW of The Silos, Montana
  14. 1.5 0 km E of Montana City, Montana
  15. 1.6 6 km SSW of The Silos, 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.

On USGS

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