QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1mwr

5 km SSW of Medford, Oklahoma

· 6.0 km deep · released about 1,300 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Grant County 3 kmGarfield County 43 kmAlfalfa County 50 kmHarper County 54 kmKay County 55 kmSumner County 58 kmNoble County 63 kmMajor County 86 kmKingfisher County 92 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 3.1 (mwr)
Depth
6.0 km below the surface
Felt
11 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Grant County, 3 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3282 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 11 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.4× 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 36.7659, -97.7631. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Grant County, OK 3 km (2 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Grant County
Garfield County, OK 43 km (27 mi) N of here earthquakes near Garfield County
Alfalfa County, OK 50 km (31 mi) E of here earthquakes near Alfalfa County
Harper County, KS 54 km (34 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Harper County
Kay County, OK 55 km (34 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kay County
Sumner County, KS 58 km (36 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Sumner County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 11 km N of Caldwell, Kansas
  2. 1.6 5 km ESE of Caldwell, Kansas
  3. 2.1 11 km SSE of Milan, Kansas
  4. 1.6 7 km SSE of Argonia, Kansas
  5. 1.6 10 km N of Caldwell, Kansas
  6. 1.9 11 km N of Caldwell, Kansas
  7. 1.6 11 km N of Caldwell, Kansas
  8. 1.9 11 km N of Caldwell, Kansas
  9. 2.2 11 km N of Caldwell, Kansas
  10. 3.7 10 km N of Caldwell, Kansas
  11. 2.9 8 km W of Deer Creek, Oklahoma
  12. 1.7 7 km SSE of Argonia, Kansas
  13. 1.8 2 km E of Anthony, Kansas
  14. 1.9 2 km E of Anthony, Kansas
  15. 2.3 10 km N of Caldwell, Kansas

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 4.1 on 2017-03-29 — it released about 32 times the energy of this one.

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

On USGS

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