QuakeIndex

mining explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3ml

3 km N of Colstrip, Montana

· 0.0 km deep · released about 1.3 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Rosebud County 29 kmTreasure County 61 kmBig Horn County 89 kmCuster County 91 kmPowder River County 100 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 3.3 (ml)
Depth
0.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Rosebud County, 29 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3371 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 1.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.8× 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 45.9142, -106.6231. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Rosebud County, MT 29 km (18 mi) S of here earthquakes near Rosebud County
Treasure County, MT 61 km (38 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Treasure County
Big Horn County, MT 89 km (56 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Big Horn County
Custer County, MT 91 km (57 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Custer County
Powder River County, MT 100 km (62 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Powder River County
Prairie County, MT 132 km (82 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Prairie 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. 3.2 9 km NE of Lame Deer, Montana
  2. 3.2 11 km SW of Colstrip, Montana
  3. 3.3 9 km SSE of Colstrip, Montana
  4. 3.2 10 km SSW of Colstrip, Montana
  5. 3.0 6 km NNW of Colstrip, Montana
  6. 3.1 6 km ENE of Colstrip, Montana
  7. 3.1 11 km SW of Colstrip, Montana
  8. 3.3 Eastern Montana
  9. 3.2 7 km WSW of Colstrip, Montana
  10. 3.0 10 km SSE of Colstrip, Montana
  11. 3.1 8 km W of Colstrip, Montana
  12. 3.4 Eastern Montana
  13. 3.0 7 km SW of Colstrip, Montana
  14. 2.8 21 km W of Colstrip, Montana
  15. 2.9 8 km SSW of Colstrip, Montana

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

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