QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3mb_lg

Kansas

Yes. A magnitude 2.3 earthquake was recorded in Kansas, 51 km (31 mi) SSE of Wichita, KS, at 5:03 pm CDT on 27 May 2020 (22:03 UTC), 5.0 km deep.

51 km (31 mi) SSE of Wichita, KS

· 5.0 km deep · released about 85 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sumner County 26 kmCowley County 32 kmKay County 49 kmSedgwick County 53 kmButler County 67 kmGrant County 73 kmHarper County 77 kmChautauqua County 86 kmElk County 88 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 2.3 (mb_lg)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sumner County, 26 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2280 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 37 km (23 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

Likely felt in: Wellington 15 km, intensity II · Belle Plaine 17 km, intensity II · Derby 33 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 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 4.0 on 2019-01-16 — about 350 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

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 37.2495, -97.2034. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Sumner County, KS 26 km (16 mi) W earthquakes near Sumner County
Cowley County, KS 32 km (20 mi) E earthquakes near Cowley County
Kay County, OK 49 km (30 mi) S earthquakes near Kay County
Sedgwick County, KS 53 km (33 mi) NNW earthquakes near Sedgwick County
Butler County, KS 67 km (41 mi) NNE earthquakes near Butler County
Grant County, OK 73 km (45 mi) SW earthquakes near Grant County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 6 km NNW of Nardin, Oklahoma
  2. 1.6 6 km NNW of Nardin, Oklahoma
  3. 1.5 7 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  4. 1.9 7 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  5. 2.1 7 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  6. 1.9 7 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  7. 1.5 6 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  8. 3.3 7 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  9. 1.8 7 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  10. 2.1 8 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  11. 1.6 7 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  12. 3.2 7 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  13. 1.6 6 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  14. 1.9 7 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma
  15. 2.4 8 km N of Nardin, Oklahoma

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.