QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

Idaho-Montana border region

Yes. A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded in the Idaho-Montana border region, at 11:18 pm MST on 17 February 2022 (06:18 UTC), 5.1 km deep.

· 5.1 km deep · released about 13 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Clark County 42 kmBeaverhead County 66 kmJefferson County 90 kmLemhi County 99 kmButte County 101 kmFremont County 107 kmMadison County 109 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
5.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Clark County, 42 km SE
Nearest mapped fault
Red Rock fault, 12 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1727 days ago

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 12 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 13 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 810,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 72× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 13 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 in our catalogue was M 4.6 on 2019-04-09 — about 18,000 times the energy of this one.

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 44.5447, -112.7500. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Clark County, ID 42 km (26 mi) SE earthquakes near Clark County
Beaverhead County, MT 66 km (41 mi) N earthquakes near Beaverhead County
Jefferson County, ID 90 km (56 mi) SSE earthquakes near Jefferson County
Lemhi County, ID 99 km (62 mi) WNW earthquakes near Lemhi County
Butte County, ID 101 km (63 mi) SSW earthquakes near Butte County
Fremont County, ID 107 km (66 mi) ESE earthquakes near Fremont County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 3 km SSE of Lima, Montana
  2. 1.7 3 km SSE of Lima, Montana
  3. 2.1 3 km SSE of Lima, Montana
  4. 2.3 3 km SSE of Lima, Montana
  5. 1.6 3 km SSE of Lima, Montana
  6. 1.9 3 km SSE of Lima, Montana
  7. 1.8 3 km SSE of Lima, Montana
  8. 1.6 4 km SSE of Lima, Montana
  9. 2.2 2 km SSE of Lima, Montana
  10. 1.8 1 km SSE of Lima, Montana
  11. 1.5 2 km S of Lima, Montana
  12. 1.8 2 km S of Lima, Montana
  13. 3.5 0 km WSW of Lima, Montana
  14. 1.6 3 km S of Lima, Montana
  15. 1.6 2 km SSE of Lima, 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.