QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.0ml

6 km WNW of Elliston, Montana

· 17 km deep · released about 27 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Powell County 43 kmLewis and Clark County 60 kmJefferson County 62 kmDeer Lodge County 73 kmGranite County 74 kmSilver Bow County 78 kmBroadwater County 83 kmMissoula County 116 kmCascade County 120 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
17 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Powell County, 43 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2556 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 27 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 5.8 560,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 390,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 35× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 27 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 46.5883, -112.5083. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Powell County, MT 43 km (27 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Powell County
Lewis and Clark County, MT 60 km (37 mi) S of here earthquakes near Lewis and Clark County
Jefferson County, MT 62 km (39 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Jefferson County
Deer Lodge County, MT 73 km (46 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Deer Lodge County
Granite County, MT 74 km (46 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Granite County
Silver Bow County, MT 78 km (48 mi) N 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

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

  1. 2.0 15 km SE of Lincoln, Montana
  2. 2.0 14 km SE of Lincoln, Montana
  3. 1.6 13 km ESE of Lincoln, Montana
  4. 2.0 7 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  5. 2.3 7 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  6. 2.1 7 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  7. 2.7 16 km SSW of Lincoln, Montana
  8. 2.8 9 km SSW of Lincoln, Montana
  9. 1.6 10 km ESE of Lincoln, Montana
  10. 2.0 18 km SE of Lincoln, Montana
  11. 1.6 14 km ESE of Lincoln, Montana
  12. 1.5 14 km SE of Lincoln, Montana
  13. 1.5 7 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  14. 3.3 4 km NNE of Marysville, Montana
  15. 1.5 16 km SE of Lincoln, 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 5.8 on 2017-07-06 — it released about 560,000 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.