QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.9ml

55 km S of Whites City, New Mexico

· 5.9 km deep · released about 340 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Culberson County 28 kmReeves County 79 kmLoving County 83 kmEddy County 87 kmHudspeth County 94 kmJeff Davis County 119 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 4.9 (ml)
Depth
5.9 km below the surface
Felt
26 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Culberson County, 28 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1461 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 26 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 340 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 500× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.9 about 340 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 710× 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 31.6801, -104.4211. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Culberson County, TX 28 km (17 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Culberson County
Reeves County, TX 79 km (49 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Reeves County
Loving County, TX 83 km (52 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Loving County
Eddy County, NM 87 km (54 mi) S of here earthquakes near Eddy County
Hudspeth County, TX 94 km (58 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Hudspeth County
Jeff Davis County, TX 119 km (74 mi) N of here earthquakes near Jeff Davis 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. 2.1 36 km NW of Toyah, Texas
  2. 2.6 54 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  3. 2.0 51 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  4. 3.2 56 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  5. 2.0 55 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  6. 3.3 56 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  7. 4.2 55 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  8. 2.0 55 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  9. 3.1 55 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  10. 2.2 46 km NW of Toyah, Texas
  11. 2.8 56 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  12. 3.3 58 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  13. 2.0 58 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  14. 3.7 55 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  15. 2.8 53 km S of Whites City, New Mexico

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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 5.0 on 2020-03-26 — it released about 1.4 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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