QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

21 km SSE of Cardston, Canada

Yes. A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 21 km SSE of Cardston, Canada, at 3:54 am MST on 20 January 2025 (10:54 UTC), 29 km deep.

· 29 km deep · released about 9.3 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Glacier County 38 kmFlathead County 100 kmPondera County 114 kmToole County 117 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
29 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Glacier County, 38 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 659 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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 9.3 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.3 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 49.0113, -113.2263. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Glacier County, MT 38 km (24 mi) SSE earthquakes near Glacier County
Flathead County, MT 100 km (62 mi) SW earthquakes near Flathead County
Pondera County, MT 114 km (71 mi) SE earthquakes near Pondera County
Toole County, MT 117 km (72 mi) ESE earthquakes near Toole County

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

Aftershocks so far

1 earthquake has been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 2.3 6 km SSW of Cardston, Canada

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.