20 km S of Oakman, Alabama

2016-08-23 07:58 UTC · 1.0 km deep · released about 170 lb of TNT

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: 2016-08-23 07:58 UTC
Magnitude: M 2.5 (mb_lg)
Depth: 1.0 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Tuscaloosa County, 28 km SSW
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 3599 days ago · we first saw it 3599 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 170 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 89,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 63,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.6× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.5 about 170 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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 33.5304, -87.4256. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Tuscaloosa County, AL	28 km (18 mi)	NNE of here	earthquakes near Tuscaloosa County
Walker County, AL	31 km (19 mi)	SSW of here	earthquakes near Walker County
Fayette County, AL	38 km (23 mi)	ESE of here	earthquakes near Fayette County
Jefferson County, AL	49 km (31 mi)	W of here	earthquakes near Jefferson County
Bibb County, AL	64 km (40 mi)	NNW of here	earthquakes near Bibb County
Pickens County, AL	68 km (42 mi)	ENE of here	earthquakes near Pickens County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

2.2 15 km W of Rock Creek, Alabama 05:40 UTC
2.1 11 km SSW of Tuscaloosa, Alabama 06:53 UTC
2.4 4 km WNW of Sipsey, Alabama 04:00 UTC
2.9 4 km NNW of Berry, Alabama 17:16 UTC
2.5 21 km W of Rock Creek, Alabama 07:36 UTC
2.3 21 km S of Berry, Alabama 02:21 UTC
2.7 22 km S of Oakman, Alabama 05:26 UTC
2.6 16 km S of Oakman, Alabama 05:06 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 07:27 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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