QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.0ml

11 km ESE of Townsend, Montana

· 3.7 km deep · released about 31 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Broadwater County 11 kmMeagher County 49 kmJefferson County 55 kmGallatin County 86 kmSilver Bow County 108 kmPark County 112 kmMadison County 114 kmCascade County 115 kmJudith Basin County 117 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 2.0 (ml)
Depth
3.7 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Broadwater County, 11 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2590 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 31 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 480,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 340,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 31× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 31 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 46.2795, -111.3782. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Broadwater County, MT 11 km (7 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Broadwater County
Meagher County, MT 49 km (30 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Meagher County
Jefferson County, MT 55 km (34 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Jefferson County
Gallatin County, MT 86 km (54 mi) N of here earthquakes near Gallatin County
Silver Bow County, MT 108 km (67 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Silver Bow County
Park County, MT 112 km (69 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Park County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 6 km W of Townsend, Montana
  2. 1.7 3 km SSW of Radersburg, Montana
  3. 1.7 9 km ENE of Townsend, Montana
  4. 1.6 7 km NNW of Logan, Montana
  5. 1.6 6 km WSW of Townsend, Montana
  6. 1.6 6 km W of Townsend, Montana
  7. 1.5 4 km SW of The Silos, Montana
  8. 1.6 2 km W of Manhattan, Montana
  9. 1.5 3 km NW of Manhattan, Montana
  10. 1.6 Western Montana
  11. 1.5 2 km NW of Manhattan, Montana
  12. 1.9 14 km SW of Radersburg, Montana
  13. 1.6 6 km W of Townsend, Montana
  14. 1.6 7 km WSW of Townsend, Montana
  15. 1.9 30 km NE of Winston, 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 4.2 on 2019-08-16 — it released about 1,900 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.