QuakeIndex

mining explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9ml

34 km NNW of San Mateo, New Mexico

· 0.0 km deep · released about 680 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N McKinley County 45 kmSandoval County 79 kmCibola County 80 kmSan Juan County 111 kmBernalillo County 118 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 2.9 (ml)
Depth
0.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
McKinley County, 45 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3719 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

USGS catalogues this as mining explosion, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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 35.6267, -107.7598. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
McKinley County, NM 45 km (28 mi) E of here earthquakes near McKinley County
Sandoval County, NM 79 km (49 mi) W of here earthquakes near Sandoval County
Cibola County, NM 80 km (50 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Cibola County
San Juan County, NM 111 km (69 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Juan County
Bernalillo County, NM 118 km (73 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Bernalillo County
Valencia County, NM 133 km (83 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Valencia County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.7 11 km ESE of San Mateo, New Mexico
  2. 4.0 8 km SSE of San Mateo, New Mexico
  3. 2.8 19 km N of San Mateo, New Mexico
  4. 3.8 8 km ENE of San Mateo, New Mexico
  5. 2.7 18 km WSW of Pueblo Pintado, New Mexico
  6. 3.1 18 km ESE of Crownpoint, New Mexico
  7. 2.8 5 km E of Bluewater Village, 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.

On USGS

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