QuakeIndex

mining explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1mb_lg

6 km NNE of Keewatin, Minnesota

· 0.0 km deep · released about 1,300 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N St. Louis County 42 kmItasca County 43 kmCarlton County 99 kmAitkin County 99 kmKoochiching County 104 kmCass County 112 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 3.1 (mb_lg)
Depth
0.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
St. Louis County, 42 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2331 days ago

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

USGS catalogues this as mining explosion, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.4× 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 47.4540, -93.0442. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
St. Louis County, MN 42 km (26 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near St. Louis County
Itasca County, MN 43 km (27 mi) E of here earthquakes near Itasca County
Carlton County, MN 99 km (61 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Carlton County
Aitkin County, MN 99 km (61 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Aitkin County
Koochiching County, MN 104 km (65 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Koochiching County
Cass County, MN 112 km (70 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Cass 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. 2.7 3 km S of Mountain Iron, Minnesota
  2. 3.0 1 km SW of Virginia, Minnesota
  3. 3.0 5 km NNE of Parkville, Minnesota
  4. 2.9 8 km NNE of Chisholm, Minnesota
  5. 3.0 12 km NNE of Chisholm, Minnesota
  6. 3.0 13 km N of Parkville, Minnesota
  7. 3.2 7 km NNE of Kinney, Minnesota
  8. 3.4 5 km NNE of Kinney, Minnesota
  9. 3.1 3 km N of Mountain Iron, Minnesota
  10. 3.2 10 km N of Mountain Iron, Minnesota
  11. 3.1 12 km N of Parkville, Minnesota
  12. 3.0 3 km NE of Nashwauk, Minnesota
  13. 3.0 0 km NE of Leonidas, Minnesota
  14. 3.1 7 km NNW of Mountain Iron, Minnesota
  15. 3.1 10 km N of Virginia, Minnesota

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

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