QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

62 km S of Whites City, New Mexico

· 8.3 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Culberson County 24 kmReeves County 70 kmLoving County 80 kmEddy County 95 kmHudspeth County 98 kmJeff Davis County 111 kmWard County 120 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
8.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Culberson County, 24 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 8 hours ago

A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 62 km S of Whites City, New Mexico at 08:58 UTC on 2026-10-02. 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 5.4 on 2022-11-16 — about 350,000 times the energy of this one.

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 31.6090, -104.3640. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Culberson County, TX 24 km (15 mi) SW earthquakes near Culberson County
Reeves County, TX 70 km (44 mi) ESE earthquakes near Reeves County
Loving County, TX 80 km (50 mi) ENE earthquakes near Loving County
Eddy County, NM 95 km (59 mi) N earthquakes near Eddy County
Hudspeth County, TX 98 km (61 mi) W earthquakes near Hudspeth County
Jeff Davis County, TX 111 km (69 mi) S earthquakes near Jeff Davis County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 57 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  2. 1.7 57 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  3. 1.5 58 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  4. 1.7 58 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  5. 1.6 57 km S of Whites City, New Mexico
  6. 2.7 53 km NW of Toyah, 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.

On USGS

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