QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

21 km SW of Jal, New Mexico

· 7.2 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Loving County 24 kmWinkler County 31 kmWard County 55 kmEctor County 76 kmAndrews County 77 kmReeves County 81 kmLea County 93 kmCrane County 101 kmEddy County 106 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
7.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Loving County, 24 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 392 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 31.9620, -103.3420. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Loving County, TX 24 km (15 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Loving County
Winkler County, TX 31 km (19 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Winkler County
Ward County, TX 55 km (34 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Ward County
Ector County, TX 76 km (47 mi) W of here earthquakes near Ector County
Andrews County, TX 77 km (48 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Andrews County
Reeves County, TX 81 km (50 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Reeves County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 12 km NNW of Kermit, Texas
  2. 1.9 13 km NNW of Kermit, Texas
  3. 1.7 8 km NNW of Kermit, Texas
  4. 1.8 12 km NNW of Kermit, Texas
  5. 1.8 14 km NE of Jal, New Mexico
  6. 1.5 11 km NNW of Kermit, Texas
  7. 1.7 15 km SSW of Jal, New Mexico
  8. 1.6 11 km NNW of Kermit, Texas
  9. 2.2 10 km NNW of Kermit, Texas
  10. 2.0 36 km ESE of Malaga, New Mexico
  11. 1.6 36 km ESE of Malaga, New Mexico
  12. 1.5 35 km NNW of Mentone, Texas
  13. 1.9 34 km NNW of Mentone, Texas
  14. 1.7 34 km SE of Malaga, New Mexico
  15. 1.5 17 km SW of Jal, 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 4.0 on 2021-07-19 — it released about 2,800 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.