Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
Earthquake near Cherokee, OK
No earthquake was likely felt in Cherokee in the 24 hours to 9:24 am CST (15:24 UTC). The last one was M 3.4, 130 km (81 mi) SSE, at 5:53 am CST on 7 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 23 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Cherokee
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 13 km (8 mi) southwest of Cherokee, OK, at 8:25 am CST on 4 November 2020 (14:25 UTC), 6.2 km deep.
USGS: 3 km WSW of Lambert, Oklahoma
- When
- 8:25 am CST on 4 November 2020 ()
- Where
- 13 km (8 mi) southwest of Cherokee, OK · earthquakes near Cherokee
- Oklahoma today
- every earthquake in Oklahoma in the last 24 hours
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 6.2 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Alfalfa County, 14 km ENE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2197 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Cherokee, OK
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Cherokee, OK. 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 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 7 km (4 mi) from the epicentre. In Cherokee, 13 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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: Helena, Alva.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 8.7 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,700,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.7 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 since 2016 was M 5.1 on 2016-02-13 — about 150,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.
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 36.6713, -98.4565. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alfalfa County, OK | 14 km (8 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Alfalfa County |
| Woods County, OK | 37 km (23 mi) | W | earthquakes near Woods County |
| Major County, OK | 41 km (25 mi) | S | earthquakes near Major County |
| Grant County, OK | 61 km (38 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Grant County |
| Barber County, KS | 65 km (40 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Barber County |
| Harper County, KS | 67 km (42 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Harper County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
35 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.1 17 km SE of Waynoka, Oklahoma
- 1.5 17 km SE of Waynoka, Oklahoma
- 1.9 3 km NW of Burlington, Oklahoma
- 1.6 2 km WSW of Cherokee, Oklahoma
- 2.1 10 km NNE of Quinlan, Oklahoma
- 1.7 3 km NW of Burlington, Oklahoma
- 1.9 17.3 km NW of Waynoka, OK
- 1.8 1.6 km SSE of Lambert, OK
- 1.6 8.4 km NE of Nash, OK
- 1.6 4.3 km NW of Meno, OK
- 1.8 10 km NNE of Quinlan, OK
- 2.2 10 km NNE of Quinlan, OK
- 1.5 10 km NE of Quinlan, OK
- 1.5 10.0 km SW of Quinlan, OK
- 1.6 10.1 km SW of Quinlan, OK
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.