Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.5mwr
Earthquake near Spencer, OK
No earthquake was likely felt in Spencer in the 24 hours to 6:12 pm CST (00:12 UTC). The last one was M 3.4, 61 km (38 mi) W, at 5:53 am CST on 7 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 23 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Spencer
This page: a magnitude 3.5 earthquake was recorded in Spencer, OK, at 9:06 pm CDT on 8 September 2016 (02:06 UTC), 7.5 km deep. 1,327 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
USGS: 1 km WSW of Spencer, Oklahoma
12 km (7 mi) ENE of Oklahoma City, OK · 7 km (4 mi) NNW of Midwest City, OK
- When
- 9:06 pm CDT on 8 September 2016 ()
- Where
- in Spencer, OK · earthquakes near Spencer
- Oklahoma today
- every earthquake in Oklahoma in the last 24 hours
- Magnitude
- M 3.5 (mwr)
- Depth
- 7.5 km below the surface
- Felt
- 1,327 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
- Measured shaking
- intensity IV (ShakeMap)
- Nearest
- Oklahoma County, 4 km NNW
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2428 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Spencer, OK
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Spencer, OK. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 306 km (190 mi) from the epicentre. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
Likely felt in: Midwest City 7 km, intensity IV · Choctaw 12 km, intensity IV · Oklahoma City 12 km, intensity IV · Edmond 17 km, intensity IV · Bethany 21 km, intensity III · Moore 21 km, intensity III · Luther 24 km, intensity III · Norman 33 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 2.7 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 63,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.7 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.6× more
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 since 2016 was M 4.2 on 2016-04-07 — about 11 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.
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 35.5166, -97.3974. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma County, OK | 4 km (3 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Oklahoma County |
| Cleveland County, OK | 35 km (22 mi) | S | earthquakes near Cleveland County |
| Logan County, OK | 44 km (28 mi) | N | earthquakes near Logan County |
| Lincoln County, OK | 51 km (32 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Lincoln County |
| Pottawatomie County, OK | 52 km (33 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Pottawatomie County |
| Canadian County, OK | 53 km (33 mi) | W | earthquakes near Canadian County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
58 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.5 5 km SE of Guthrie, Oklahoma
- 2.0 6 km W of Arcadia, Oklahoma
- 2.4 6 km W of Arcadia, Oklahoma
- 2.8 5 km SE of Guthrie, Oklahoma
- 3.3 6 km W of Arcadia, Oklahoma
- 2.8 6 km W of Arcadia, Oklahoma
- 2.5 6 km ENE of Edmond, Oklahoma
- 3.7 6 km W of Arcadia, Oklahoma
- 2.6 6 km ENE of Edmond, Oklahoma
- 2.6 3 km SE of Harrah, Oklahoma
- 2.6 4 km SE of Harrah, Oklahoma
- 2.6 6 km W of Arcadia, Oklahoma
- 2.4 5 km ESE of Guthrie, Oklahoma
- 2.7 Oklahoma
- 2.5 3 km E of Luther, Oklahoma
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
- 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.