Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.7ml
Earthquake near Rifle, CO
No earthquake was likely felt in Rifle in the 24 hours to 1:21 pm MST (20:21 UTC). The last one was M 5.0, 722 km (449 mi) ESE, at 4:21 am MDT on 23 July 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 499 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Rifle
This page: a magnitude 2.7 earthquake was recorded 25 km (15 mi) northwest of Rifle, CO, at 1:53 am MST on 19 December 2018 (08:53 UTC), 5.0 km deep.
USGS: 24 km NW of Rifle, Colorado
- When
- 1:53 am MST on 19 December 2018 ()
- Where
- 25 km (15 mi) northwest of Rifle, CO · earthquakes near Rifle
- Magnitude
- M 2.7 (ml)
- Depth
- 5.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Garfield County, 12 km SE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2818 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Rifle, CO
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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 24 km (15 mi) from the epicentre. In Rifle, 25 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Parachute, Battlement Mesa.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 340 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.7 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 45,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 32,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.8× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.7 about 340 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.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.1 on 2018-08-24 — about 130 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.4 46 km NW of Parachute, Colorado · 34 km WNW of this epicentre
Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.
Where
Epicentre 39.6839, -108.0003. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield County, CO | 12 km (8 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Garfield County |
| Rio Blanco County, CO | 36 km (23 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Rio Blanco County |
| Mesa County, CO | 84 km (52 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Mesa County |
| Delta County, CO | 92 km (57 mi) | S | earthquakes near Delta County |
| Moffat County, CO | 105 km (65 mi) | N | earthquakes near Moffat County |
| Pitkin County, CO | 107 km (66 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Pitkin 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.
- 2.8 18 km SSE of Meeker, Colorado
- 2.1 6 km NNW of Chacra, Colorado
- 2.5 22 km NNW of New Castle, Colorado
- 2.5 7 km NNW of Chacra, Colorado
- 2.6 6 km NNW of Chacra, Colorado
- 2.9 8 km NNW of Chacra, Colorado
- 2.1 9 km NNE of New Castle, Colorado
- 1.5 28 km NW of De Beque, Colorado
- 1.7 11 km NE of Battlement Mesa, Colorado
- 2.6 24 km NNW of Parachute, 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
- 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.