Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.5ml
Earthquake near Grants, NM
USGS: 3 km NNW of Seboyeta, New Mexico
70 km (44 mi) WNW of Albuquerque, NM
- When
- 7:28 am MDT on 20 October 2016 ()
- Where
- 42 km (26 mi) ENE of Grants, NM · earthquakes near Grants
- Magnitude
- M 3.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 5.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- 1 report · strongest reported intensity I
- Measured shaking
- intensity IV (ShakeMap)
- Nearest
- Cibola County, 63 km WSW
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3548 days ago
A magnitude 3.5 earthquake was recorded 42 km (26 mi) ENE of Grants, NM, at 7:28 am MDT on 20 October 2016 (13:28 UTC). 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS. This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Laguna, Skyline-Ganipa.
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.
Where
Epicentre 35.2346, -107.4048. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cibola County, NM | 63 km (39 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Cibola County |
| Sandoval County, NM | 69 km (43 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Sandoval County |
| Bernalillo County, NM | 70 km (43 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Bernalillo County |
| Valencia County, NM | 79 km (49 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Valencia County |
| McKinley County, NM | 86 km (54 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near McKinley County |
| Los Alamos County, NM | 122 km (76 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Los Alamos County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
5 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.7 11 km ESE of San Mateo, New Mexico
- 4.0 8 km SSE of San Mateo, New Mexico
- 2.8 19 km N of San Mateo, New Mexico
- 3.8 8 km ENE of San Mateo, New Mexico
- 2.8 5 km E of Bluewater Village, New Mexico
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.