Earthquake near Townsend, MT

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 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Townsend, 7 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: Townsend 7 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,400,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.4 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 4.0 on 2019-07-14 — about 4,700 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.6 The 1925 Clarkston Valley, Montana Earthquake · 28 km SSE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1925
2. 6.4 Clarkston Valley, Montana (Aftershock) · 28 km SSE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1925
3. 6.1 The 1935 Helena, Montana Earthquakes (Mainshock) · 30 km N of this epicentre Oct 19, 1935
4. 5.9 2 km ENE of Helena, Montana · 43 km NW of this epicentre Oct 12, 1935
5. 5.9 The 1935 Helena, Montana Earthquakes (Largest Aftershock) · 30 km NW of this epicentre Oct 31, 1935

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 46.3268, -111.6072. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.2 10 km NE of Toston, Montana 12:04 UTC
2. 1.5 1 km ENE of Toston, Montana 09:46 UTC
3. 1.6 8 km N of Radersburg, Montana 16:27 UTC
4. 1.9 7 km W of Townsend, Montana 17:06 UTC
5. 1.5 4 km NW of Logan, Montana 22:41 UTC
6. 1.9 Western Montana 16:22 UTC
7. 1.6 6 km W of Townsend, Montana 18:09 UTC
8. 1.6 9 km SW of Radersburg, Montana 11:59 UTC
9. 1.9 8 km W of Townsend, Montana 20:06 UTC
10. 2.1 1 km SSE of Townsend, Montana 19:24 UTC
11. 1.6 6 km N of Radersburg, Montana 18:12 UTC
12. 1.8 7 km WSW of Jefferson City, Montana 07:21 UTC
13. 1.5 7 km ENE of Townsend, Montana 16:24 UTC
14. 1.6 8 km ENE of Townsend, Montana 16:20 UTC
15. 1.8 7 km W of Townsend, Montana 18:27 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 15:27 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.