QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9mb_lg

Kansas

Yes. A magnitude 2.9 earthquake was recorded in Kansas, at 12:08 pm CDT on 29 June 2021 (17:08 UTC), 6.3 km deep.

· 6.3 km deep · released about 680 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Ellis County 24 kmTrego County 28 kmRooks County 42 kmGraham County 46 kmRush County 59 kmNess County 67 kmRussell County 70 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
Magnitude
M 2.9 (mb_lg)
Depth
6.3 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 1889 days ago

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 67 km (42 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: Ellis 9 km, intensity III · Hays 26 km, intensity III · Plainville 33 km, intensity III · Hill City 45 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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 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 39.0168, -99.5650. 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 (17 mi) WSW earthquakes near Trego County
Rooks County, KS 42 km (26 mi) NNE earthquakes near Rooks County
Graham County, KS 46 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

38 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.