Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.8mw
Illinois-Indiana border region
Yes. A magnitude 3.8 earthquake was recorded in the Illinois-Indiana border region, 98 km (61 mi) W of Indianapolis, IN, at 3:18 pm EDT on 17 June 2021 (19:18 UTC), 6.3 km deep. 4,062 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
98 km (61 mi) W of Indianapolis, IN · 41 km (26 mi) N of Terre Haute, IN
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.8 (mw)
- Depth
- 6.3 km below the surface
- Felt
- 4,062 reports · strongest reported intensity V
- Measured shaking
- intensity V (ShakeMap)
- Nearest
- Parke County, 10 km SE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Wabash Valley liquefaction features, under 1 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 193 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Rockville, IN
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Rockville, IN. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 407 km (253 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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Rockville, Cayuga, Fairview Park, Clinton.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 8.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 21,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 930× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 660× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.8 about 8.1 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 17× more
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 39.8305, -87.2867. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parke County, IN | 10 km (6 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Parke County |
| Vermillion County, IN | 15 km (9 mi) | W | earthquakes near Vermillion County |
| Fountain County, IN | 33 km (20 mi) | N | earthquakes near Fountain County |
| Montgomery County, IN | 41 km (25 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Montgomery County |
| Putnam County, IN | 41 km (26 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Putnam County |
| Edgar County, IL | 43 km (27 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Edgar 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.
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
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.