QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.0mwr

1 km SSW of Gypsum, Kansas

· 3.0 km deep · released about 15 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Saline County 22 kmDickinson County 31 kmMcPherson County 38 kmMarion County 47 kmOttawa County 53 kmEllsworth County 67 kmGeary County 67 kmMorris County 68 kmHarvey County 71 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 4.0 (mwr)
Depth
3.0 km below the surface
Felt
129 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Saline County, 22 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1675 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 129 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 11,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 500× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 350× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.0 about 15 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 32× 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 38.6900, -97.4346. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Saline County, KS 22 km (14 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Saline County
Dickinson County, KS 31 km (19 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Dickinson County
McPherson County, KS 38 km (23 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near McPherson County
Marion County, KS 47 km (29 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Marion County
Ottawa County, KS 53 km (33 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Ottawa County
Ellsworth County, KS 67 km (42 mi) E of here earthquakes near Ellsworth County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 3 km ENE of Assaria, Kansas
  2. 2.7 4 km WSW of Assaria, Kansas
  3. 2.6 0 km SSW of Assaria, Kansas
  4. 3.5 6 km WSW of Woodbine, Kansas
  5. 2.5 3 km NNW of Assaria, Kansas
  6. 2.4 0 km N of Assaria, Kansas
  7. 2.5 4 km SSE of Smolan, Kansas
  8. 2.2 5 km N of Assaria, Kansas
  9. 2.5 4 km E of Assaria, Kansas
  10. 2.7 3 km SSE of Solomon, Kansas
  11. 2.5 4 km W of Bennington, Kansas
  12. 3.4 6 km NNE of Bennington, Kansas
  13. 3.1 7 km E of Assaria, Kansas
  14. 2.6 7 km NNE of Bennington, Kansas
  15. 3.4 3 km NNW of Bennington, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.3 on 2021-12-08 — it released about 2.8 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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