QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1md

5 km WNW of Waltonville, Illinois

· 17 km deep · released about 1,200 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Jefferson County 17 kmPerry County 29 kmFranklin County 31 kmWashington County 31 kmMarion County 49 kmClinton County 51 kmHamilton County 51 kmJackson County 56 kmWilliamson County 58 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 3.1 (md)
Depth
17 km below the surface
Felt
425 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Jefferson County, 17 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 912 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 425 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,200 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 280,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 12,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 8,800× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,200 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.3× 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 38.2325, -89.0952. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Jefferson County, IL 17 km (10 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Jefferson County
Perry County, IL 29 km (18 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Perry County
Franklin County, IL 31 km (19 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Franklin County
Washington County, IL 31 km (19 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Washington County
Marion County, IL 49 km (30 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Marion County
Clinton County, IL 51 km (31 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Clinton County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 4 km NNE of Valier, Illinois
  2. 2.3 7 km NW of Woodlawn, Illinois
  3. 2.5 6 km ENE of Pinckneyville, Illinois

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.