quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5ml
2 km S of Hulbert, OK
No: USGS classifies this as a quarry blast, not an earthquake. A magnitude 1.5 quarry blast was recorded 2 km S of Hulbert, OK, 72 km (45 mi) ESE of Tulsa, OK, at 10:44 am CDT on 16 September 2021 (15:44 UTC), less than 1 km deep.
72 km (45 mi) ESE of Tulsa, OK · 59 km (37 mi) ESE of Broken Arrow, OK
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 0.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Cherokee County, 13 km E
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1882 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Tahlequah, OK
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Tahlequah, 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 3 km (2 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: Tahlequah, Fort Gibson, Park Hill, Wagoner, Muskogee.
USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 6.2 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 6.2 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 35.9130, -95.1457. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cherokee County, OK | 13 km (8 mi) | E | earthquakes near Cherokee County |
| Wagoner County, OK | 34 km (21 mi) | W | earthquakes near Wagoner County |
| Muskogee County, OK | 39 km (24 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Muskogee County |
| Mayes County, OK | 44 km (27 mi) | N | earthquakes near Mayes County |
| Adair County, OK | 45 km (28 mi) | E | earthquakes near Adair County |
| Sequoyah County, OK | 58 km (36 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Sequoyah 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.
- 1.6 4 km SSW of Hulbert, Oklahoma
- 1.5 1 km ESE of Rocky Mountain, Oklahoma
- 1.7 1 km SSW of Hulbert, Oklahoma
- 1.6 2 km SW of Hulbert, Oklahoma
- 1.5 1 km S of Hulbert, Oklahoma
- 2.0 Oklahoma
- 1.8 Oklahoma
- 1.8 2 km NNE of Zeb, Oklahoma
- 1.5 1 km W of Hulbert, Oklahoma
- 1.6 2 km SSW of Hulbert, Oklahoma
- 1.7 1 km SE of Zeb, Oklahoma
- 1.6 1 km SW of Hulbert, Oklahoma
- 1.7 2 km SSW of Hulbert, Oklahoma
- 1.7 3 km SSE of Zeb, Oklahoma
- 1.6 4 km NE of Sportsmen Acres, Oklahoma
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.