QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6mb_lg

Earthquake near Hays, KS

USGS: 10 km N of Gorham, Kansas

10:17 pm CST, Dec 27, 2020 · · 5.0 km deep · released about 240 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Hays Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Russell County 23 kmEllis County 26 kmOsborne County 47 kmRooks County 48 kmRush County 56 kmBarton County 60 kmLincoln County 71 kmTrego County 73 kmEllsworth County 78 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
10:17 pm CST on 27 December 2020 ()
Where
28 km (17 mi) ENE of Hays, KS · earthquakes near Hays
Magnitude
M 2.6 (mb_lg)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Russell County, 23 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2036 days ago

A magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded 28 km (17 mi) ENE of Hays, KS, at 10:17 pm CST on 27 December 2020 (04:17 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: Russell, Victoria.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 240 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 63,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 45,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 240 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 1,000 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 38.9776, -99.0286. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Russell County, KS 23 km (14 mi) ESE earthquakes near Russell County
Ellis County, KS 26 km (16 mi) WSW earthquakes near Ellis County
Osborne County, KS 47 km (29 mi) NNE earthquakes near Osborne County
Rooks County, KS 48 km (30 mi) NNW earthquakes near Rooks County
Rush County, KS 56 km (35 mi) SSW earthquakes near Rush County
Barton County, KS 60 km (37 mi) SSE earthquakes near Barton County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 9 km SW of Natoma, Kansas
  2. 2.9 7 km N of Hays, Kansas
  3. 2.8 6 km NW of Wilson, Kansas
  4. 2.6 6 km NE of Dorrance, Kansas
  5. 2.7 8 km NE of Dorrance, Kansas
  6. 2.8 10 km SSW of Stockton, Kansas
  7. 3.2 5 km NNW of Wilson, Kansas
  8. 2.7 4 km NW of Wilson, Kansas
  9. 3.4 7 km NE of Dorrance, Kansas
  10. 2.5 1 km NE of Zurich, Kansas
  11. 2.6 14 km WSW of Natoma, Kansas
  12. 3.0 4 km SE of Paradise, Kansas
  13. 3.0 2 km SW of Zurich, Kansas
  14. 2.9 13 km NNE of Luray, Kansas
  15. 3.0 6 km SW of Luray, 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.