42 km NNE of Spencer, Idaho

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 1 km (1 mi) from the epicentre. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.1 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,100,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,500,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.1 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.3 on 2016-06-13 — about 14,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 6.1 30 km SSW of Big Sky, Montana · 48 km NNE of this epicentre Nov 23, 1947
2. 5.2 32 km WNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana · 33 km NE of this epicentre Oct 21, 1964
3. 5.2 26 km WNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana · 36 km ENE of this epicentre Mar 11, 1977
4. 5.0 31 km W of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana · 28 km ENE of this epicentre Aug 19, 1959
5. 5.0 39 km W of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana · 17 km E of this epicentre Aug 20, 1959

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 44.6833, -111.8910. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 1.8 27 km SE of Virginia City, Montana 18:59 UTC
2. 2.0 29 km SSE of Virginia City, Montana 10:35 UTC
3. 2.4 27 km WNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 10:09 UTC
4. 1.6 28 km WNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 15:42 UTC
5. 1.6 27 km WNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 23:45 UTC
6. 1.6 32 km S of Ennis, Montana 04:17 UTC
7. 1.6 23 km WNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 15:25 UTC
8. 2.0 22 km WNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 12:50 UTC
9. 2.6 16 km NE of Lima, Montana 21:04 UTC
10. 1.8 46 km NNE of Spencer, Idaho 04:38 UTC
11. 1.6 24 km SSW of Virginia City, Montana 07:24 UTC
12. 1.5 29 km S of Ennis, Montana 22:38 UTC
13. 1.9 22 km WNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 20:49 UTC
14. 1.5 26 km W of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 12:06 UTC
15. 1.6 26 km W of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 11:10 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:51 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.