QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

24 km SSW of Virginia City, Montana

· 3.6 km deep · released about 8.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Madison County 28 kmBeaverhead County 63 kmGallatin County 86 kmClark County 93 kmSilver Bow County 99 kmFremont County 109 kmJefferson County 114 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
3.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Madison County, 28 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2071 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 8.4 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 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.4 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.

Where

Epicentre 45.1022, -112.0878. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Madison County, MT 28 km (18 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Madison County
Beaverhead County, MT 63 km (39 mi) E of here earthquakes near Beaverhead County
Gallatin County, MT 86 km (53 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Gallatin County
Clark County, ID 93 km (58 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Clark County
Silver Bow County, MT 99 km (61 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Silver Bow County
Fremont County, ID 109 km (68 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Fremont County

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. 2.1 32 km S of Virginia City, Montana
  2. 2.3 13 km NNE of Dillon, Montana
  3. 2.1 47 km ENE of Lima, Montana
  4. 2.3 45 km NE of Spencer, Idaho
  5. 1.8 42 km W of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana
  6. 2.7 26 km SSE of Virginia City, Montana
  7. 1.7 28 km SE of Virginia City, Montana
  8. 2.1 17 km NNE of Dillon, Montana
  9. 1.5 13 km N of Dillon, Montana
  10. 1.9 38 km WNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana
  11. 1.5 38 km SSW of Virginia City, Montana
  12. 2.1 28 km SSE of Virginia City, Montana
  13. 1.7 43 km W of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana
  14. 1.6 17 km ESE of Dillon, Montana
  15. 1.5 16 km E of Dillon, 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 4.3 on 2016-06-13 — it released about 12,000 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.