QuakeIndex

rock burst · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9ml

17 km E of Paonia, Colorado

· 2.7 km deep · released about 680 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Gunnison County 38 kmDelta County 41 kmPitkin County 56 kmOuray County 88 kmGarfield County 91 kmMontrose County 92 kmMesa County 93 kmChaffee County 96 kmLake County 97 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 2.9 (ml)
Depth
2.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Gunnison County, 38 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2881 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

USGS catalogues this as rock burst, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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 38.8839, -107.3943. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Gunnison County, CO 38 km (23 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Gunnison County
Delta County, CO 41 km (25 mi) E of here earthquakes near Delta County
Pitkin County, CO 56 km (34 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Pitkin County
Ouray County, CO 88 km (55 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Ouray County
Garfield County, CO 91 km (57 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Garfield County
Montrose County, CO 92 km (57 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Montrose County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 10 km NE of Redstone, Colorado
  2. 1.5 13 km ENE of Paonia, Colorado
  3. 1.9 11 km E of Paonia, Colorado
  4. 1.6 9 km ESE of Paonia, Colorado
  5. 1.8 11 km NNE of Paonia, Colorado
  6. 2.4 9 km NW of Mount Crested Butte, Colorado
  7. 1.9 10 km SE of Crystal, Colorado
  8. 2.1 3 km NNW of Mount Crested Butte, Colorado
  9. 1.9 10 km NNW of Mount Crested Butte, Colorado
  10. 1.6 3 km WNW of Crystal, Colorado

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

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