QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

Earthquake near Ponca City, OK

No earthquake was likely felt in Ponca City in the 24 hours to 8:11 am CST (14:11 UTC). The last one was M 3.4, 149 km (93 mi) SW, at 5:53 am CST on 7 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 23 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Ponca City

This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 28 km (17 mi) south-southwest of Ponca City, OK, at 2:19 pm CDT on 8 August 2025 (19:19 UTC), 7.0 km deep.

USGS: 4 km NW of Red Rock, Oklahoma

41 km (26 mi) NNW of Stillwater, OK · 116 km (72 mi) NNE of Oklahoma City, OK

2:19 pm CDT, Aug 8, 2025 · · 7.0 km deep · released about 6.6 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Noble County 11 kmKay County 37 kmPayne County 50 kmPawnee County 50 kmGarfield County 52 kmGrant County 61 kmLogan County 67 kmOsage County 74 kmSumner County 87 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
2:19 pm CDT on 8 August 2025 ()
Where
28 km (17 mi) south-southwest of Ponca City, OK · earthquakes near Ponca City
Oklahoma today
every earthquake in Oklahoma in the last 24 hours
Magnitude
M 1.6 (ml)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Noble County, 11 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 460 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. In Ponca City, 28 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: Perry, Tonkawa, McCord.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.6 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.6 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 5.8 on 2016-09-03 — about 2,300,000 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 36.4833, -97.2187. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Noble County, OK 11 km (7 mi) S earthquakes near Noble County
Kay County, OK 37 km (23 mi) N earthquakes near Kay County
Payne County, OK 50 km (31 mi) SSE earthquakes near Payne County
Pawnee County, OK 50 km (31 mi) ESE earthquakes near Pawnee County
Garfield County, OK 52 km (33 mi) WSW earthquakes near Garfield County
Grant County, OK 61 km (38 mi) NW earthquakes near Grant County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 0.1 10 km ESE of Marland, Oklahoma
  2. 1.2 1 km NNE of Garber, Oklahoma
  3. 0.8 10 km NW of Pawnee, Oklahoma
  4. 0.6 8 km ESE of Marland, Oklahoma
  5. 1.5 8 km NNW of Hunter, Oklahoma
  6. 1.2 15 km NNE of Morrison, Oklahoma
  7. 1.6 9 km NE of Blackwell, Oklahoma
  8. 0.9 15 km NW of Pawnee, Oklahoma
  9. 2.2 6 km NNW of Red Rock, Oklahoma
  10. 1.6 5 km WNW of Lucien, Oklahoma
  11. 2.4 15 km NW of Pawnee, Oklahoma
  12. 1.9 5 km S of Lucien, Oklahoma
  13. 2.7 7 km S of Perry, Oklahoma
  14. 1.8 16 km NW of Pawnee, Oklahoma
  15. 1.5 12 km NW of Pawnee, 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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.