QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.5mb_lg

Earthquake near Ellis, KS

USGS: 8 km N of Ellis, Kansas

9:42 pm CDT, Oct 15, 2020 · · 5.0 km deep · released about 170 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Ellis Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Ellis County 24 kmTrego County 28 kmRooks County 42 kmGraham County 47 kmRush County 59 kmNess County 67 kmRussell County 69 kmOsborne County 78 kmGove County 81 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
9:42 pm CDT on 15 October 2020 ()
Where
9 km (5 mi) N of Ellis, KS · earthquakes near Ellis
Magnitude
M 2.5 (mb_lg)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Ellis County, 24 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2103 days ago

A magnitude 2.5 earthquake was recorded 9 km (5 mi) N of Ellis, KS, at 9:42 pm CDT on 15 October 2020 (02:42 UTC). This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Hays, WaKeeney.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 170 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 89,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 63,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 170 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 4.6 on 2019-06-22 — about 1,400 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 39.0149, -99.5610. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Ellis County, KS 24 km (15 mi) ESE earthquakes near Ellis County
Trego County, KS 28 km (18 mi) WSW earthquakes near Trego County
Rooks County, KS 42 km (26 mi) NNE earthquakes near Rooks County
Graham County, KS 47 km (29 mi) NW earthquakes near Graham County
Rush County, KS 59 km (37 mi) SSE earthquakes near Rush County
Ness County, KS 67 km (41 mi) SSW earthquakes near Ness County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.0 2 km SSW of Bogue, Kansas
  2. 2.5 9 km S of Bogue, Kansas
  3. 2.5 9 km SW of Natoma, Kansas
  4. 2.4 12 km NE of Damar, Kansas
  5. 2.9 7 km N of Hays, Kansas
  6. 2.8 10 km SSW of Stockton, Kansas
  7. 2.5 1 km NE of Zurich, Kansas
  8. 2.6 14 km WSW of Natoma, Kansas
  9. 2.5 3 km NE of Bogue, Kansas
  10. 2.8 16 km S of Hill City, Kansas
  11. 3.0 2 km SW of Zurich, Kansas
  12. 2.7 2 km E of Hill City, Kansas
  13. 2.6 6 km SE of Hill City, Kansas
  14. 2.1 9 km SW of Bogue, Kansas
  15. 2.7 17 km NNE of Collyer, 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.

On USGS

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