QuakeIndex

quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

6 km NW of Libby, Montana

· -2.0 km deep · released about 7.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lincoln County 18 kmBonner County 76 kmBoundary County 77 kmSanders County 81 kmKootenai County 116 kmFlathead County 116 kmPend Oreille 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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
-2.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Lincoln County, 18 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2305 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 7.8 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 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.8 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 48.4273, -115.6160. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Lincoln County, MT 18 km (11 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Lincoln County
Bonner County, ID 76 km (47 mi) E of here earthquakes near Bonner County
Boundary County, ID 77 km (48 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Boundary County
Sanders County, MT 81 km (51 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Sanders County
Kootenai County, ID 116 km (72 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Kootenai County
Flathead County, MT 116 km (72 mi) W of here earthquakes near Flathead County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.1 20 km N of Heron, Montana
  2. 1.9 19 km NE of Troy, Montana
  3. 1.8 15 km SE of Sylvanite, Montana
  4. 2.4 23 km ENE of Noxon, Montana
  5. 1.8 3 km NW of Happys Inn, Montana
  6. 2.6 4 km NW of Happys Inn, Montana
  7. 2.0 13 km WSW of Libby, Montana
  8. 2.1 22 km NNE of Trout Creek, Montana
  9. 1.7 2 km NNW of Happys Inn, 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.