QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3ml

12 km ESE of Lincoln, Montana

· 9.2 km deep · released about 85 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lewis and Clark County 26 kmPowell County 31 kmGranite County 89 kmJefferson County 94 kmCascade County 100 kmBroadwater County 102 kmDeer Lodge County 102 kmTeton County 103 kmMissoula County 104 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 2.3 (ml)
Depth
9.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Lewis and Clark County, 26 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2014 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 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 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 46.9083, -112.5303. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Lewis and Clark County, MT 26 km (16 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lewis and Clark County
Powell County, MT 31 km (19 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Powell County
Granite County, MT 89 km (55 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Granite County
Jefferson County, MT 94 km (59 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Jefferson County
Cascade County, MT 100 km (62 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Cascade County
Broadwater County, MT 102 km (63 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Broadwater 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. 1.8 8 km SSE of Marysville, Montana
  2. 1.9 13 km ESE of Lincoln, Montana
  3. 1.6 3 km SW of Helena Valley Northwest, Montana
  4. 1.6 5 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  5. 1.8 12 km ESE of Lincoln, Montana
  6. 2.0 5 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  7. 2.8 7 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  8. 3.3 6 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  9. 2.3 6 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  10. 1.9 Western Montana
  11. 2.8 7 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  12. 3.2 6 km SSE of Lincoln, Montana
  13. 1.8 16 km ESE of Ovando, Montana
  14. 1.7 16 km ESE of Ovando, Montana
  15. 1.8 13 km ESE 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 180,000 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.