QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2ml

10 km N of Caldwell, Kansas

· 4.2 km deep · released about 1,900 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sumner County 16 kmHarper County 40 kmGrant County 41 kmKay County 54 kmSedgwick County 63 kmKingman County 66 kmCowley County 70 kmAlfalfa County 77 kmGarfield County 85 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 3.2 (ml)
Depth
4.2 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Sumner County, 16 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1512 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,900 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,900× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,600× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,900 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2× 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 37.1268, -97.6168. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sumner County, KS 16 km (10 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Sumner County
Harper County, KS 40 km (25 mi) E of here earthquakes near Harper County
Grant County, OK 41 km (25 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Grant County
Kay County, OK 54 km (34 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Kay County
Sedgwick County, KS 63 km (39 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Sedgwick County
Kingman County, KS 66 km (41 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Kingman 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 6 km NNE of Wakita, Oklahoma
  2. 2.9 6 km NNE of Wakita, Oklahoma
  3. 1.5 4 km NNW of Bluff City, Kansas
  4. 1.9 8 km N of Caldwell, Kansas
  5. 1.5 8 km SSE of Mayfield, Kansas
  6. 1.6 8 km SSE of Mayfield, Kansas
  7. 1.6 8 km SSE of Mayfield, Kansas
  8. 2.0 4 km NE of Mayfield, Kansas
  9. 2.1 8 km SSE of Mayfield, Kansas
  10. 1.6 8 km SSE of Mayfield, Kansas
  11. 1.9 11 km N of Caldwell, Kansas
  12. 1.6 5 km WSW of Danville, Kansas
  13. 2.0 4 km NE of Mayfield, Kansas
  14. 1.6 4 km NE of Mayfield, Kansas
  15. 2.9 2 km WSW of Mayfield, 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 22 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.