QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

17 km W of Pony, Montana

· 4.2 km deep · released about 8.1 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Madison County 42 kmSilver Bow County 48 kmJefferson County 50 kmGallatin County 77 kmBeaverhead County 85 kmBroadwater County 87 kmDeer Lodge County 92 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
4.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Madison County, 42 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1944 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 8.1 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 1,900,000× 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 3.0 120× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.1 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.

Where

Epicentre 45.6757, -112.1228. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Madison County, MT 42 km (26 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Madison County
Silver Bow County, MT 48 km (30 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Silver Bow County
Jefferson County, MT 50 km (31 mi) S of here earthquakes near Jefferson County
Gallatin County, MT 77 km (48 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Gallatin County
Beaverhead County, MT 85 km (53 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Beaverhead County
Broadwater County, MT 87 km (54 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Broadwater County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 5 km E of Butte, Montana
  2. 1.7 20 km SSW of Boulder, Montana
  3. 3.4 17 km S of Boulder, Montana
  4. 1.8 4 km E of Butte, Montana
  5. 1.9 5 km E of Butte, Montana
  6. 1.6 5 km E of Butte, Montana
  7. 1.9 10 km SSE of Pony, Montana
  8. 2.4 10 km SSE of Pony, Montana
  9. 1.6 5 km ENE of Butte, Montana
  10. 1.9 10 km SSE of Pony, Montana
  11. 1.8 5 km ENE of Butte, Montana
  12. 1.9 4 km E of Butte, Montana
  13. 1.7 10 km SSE of Pony, Montana
  14. 2.0 9 km SSE of Pony, Montana
  15. 2.7 9 km SSE of Pony, 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 4.0 on 2016-09-03 — it released about 4,100 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.