QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

19 km WNW of Sterling City, Texas

· 4.9 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sterling County 14 kmGlasscock County 35 kmMitchell County 47 kmHoward County 49 kmCoke County 50 kmReagan County 71 kmIrion County 72 kmMidland County 81 kmNolan County 82 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
4.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sterling County, 14 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 265 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 31.9320, -101.1580. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sterling County, TX 14 km (9 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Sterling County
Glasscock County, TX 35 km (22 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Glasscock County
Mitchell County, TX 47 km (29 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Mitchell County
Howard County, TX 49 km (30 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Howard County
Coke County, TX 50 km (31 mi) W of here earthquakes near Coke County
Reagan County, TX 71 km (44 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Reagan County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 11 km W of Forsan, Texas
  2. 1.6 11 km W of Forsan, Texas
  3. 1.6 23 km S of Westbrook, Texas
  4. 1.6 15 km E of Stanton, Texas
  5. 2.3 14 km E of Stanton, Texas
  6. 2.3 11 km W of Forsan, Texas
  7. 1.7 11 km W of Forsan, Texas
  8. 2.0 6 km ESE of Big Spring, Texas
  9. 1.7 22 km S of Westbrook, Texas
  10. 1.7 6 km ESE of Big Spring, Texas
  11. 1.6 7 km SE of Big Spring, Texas
  12. 1.6 28 km S of Westbrook, Texas
  13. 1.5 2 km WNW of Garden City, Texas
  14. 1.5 13 km W of Forsan, Texas
  15. 1.8 1 km NNE of Garden City, Texas

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 4.3 on 2025-10-12 — it released about 7,900 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.