Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.0mb_lg
14 km SSE of Ajax, Canada
Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 14 km SSE of Ajax, Canada, 94 km (58 mi) N of Buffalo, NY, at 5:27 pm EDT on 8 May 2018 (21:27 UTC), 5.0 km deep. 22 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
94 km (58 mi) N of Buffalo, NY
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.0 (mb_lg)
- Depth
- 5.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- 22 reports · strongest reported intensity II
- Nearest
- Niagara County, 53 km SSE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3017 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Olcott, NY
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Olcott, NY. 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 73 km (45 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.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 950 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 350,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11,000× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.0 about 950 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
Epicentre 43.7347, -78.9490. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara County, NY | 53 km (33 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Niagara County |
| Orleans County, NY | 74 km (46 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Orleans County |
| Genesee County, NY | 102 km (63 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Genesee County |
| Erie County, NY | 110 km (68 mi) | S | earthquakes near Erie County |
| Monroe County, NY | 114 km (71 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Monroe County |
| Wyoming County, NY | 129 km (80 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Wyoming County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
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.