QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.2mwr

27 km N of Cimarron, New Mexico

· 3.5 km deep · released about 30 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Colfax County 30 kmTaos County 67 kmCostilla County 73 kmMora County 86 kmLas Animas County 100 kmHuerfano County 104 kmAlamosa 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 4.2 (mwr)
Depth
3.5 km below the surface
Felt
24 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Colfax County, 30 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3474 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 24 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 30 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 5,600× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 250× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.2 about 30 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 63× 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.

Where

Epicentre 36.7571, -104.9277. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Colfax County, NM 30 km (19 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Colfax County
Taos County, NM 67 km (41 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Taos County
Costilla County, CO 73 km (45 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Costilla County
Mora County, NM 86 km (53 mi) N of here earthquakes near Mora County
Las Animas County, CO 100 km (62 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Las Animas County
Huerfano County, CO 104 km (64 mi) S of here earthquakes near Huerfano County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.1 16 km S of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  2. 1.7 9 km SSW of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  3. 2.7 11 km SW of Weston, Colorado
  4. 1.7 13 km SSE of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  5. 3.1 27 km S of Weston, Colorado
  6. 2.6 28 km S of Weston, Colorado
  7. 2.7 28 km SSW of Sequndo, Colorado
  8. 2.7 26 km S of Segundo, Colorado
  9. 1.5 11 km SSE of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  10. 1.5 13 km SSE of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  11. 1.9 16 km SSW of Weston, Colorado
  12. 1.6 17 km SSW of Weston, Colorado
  13. 1.5 13 km SSE of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  14. 2.0 13 km SSE of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  15. 1.6 12 km SSE of Stonewall Gap, Colorado

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 4.0 on 2016-02-06.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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