QuakeIndex

mining explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9ml

15 km NNE of Virginia, Minnesota

· 0.0 km deep · released about 680 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N St. Louis County 10 kmLake County 82 kmItasca County 86 kmKoochiching County 116 kmCarlton County 118 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 (ml)
Depth
0.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
St. Louis County, 10 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1604 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

USGS catalogues this as mining explosion, not an earthquake.

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.

Where

Epicentre 47.6621, -92.4872. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
St. Louis County, MN 10 km (6 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near St. Louis County
Lake County, MN 82 km (51 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Lake County
Itasca County, MN 86 km (54 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Itasca County
Koochiching County, MN 116 km (72 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Koochiching County
Carlton County, MN 118 km (74 mi) N of here earthquakes near Carlton County
Aitkin County, MN 137 km (85 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Aitkin County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 11 km NNE of Parkville, Minnesota
  2. 2.5 5 km NW of Biwabik, Minnesota
  3. 3.3 3 km SW of Babbitt, Minnesota
  4. 2.6 6 km NW of Mountain Iron, Minnesota
  5. 2.7 4 km NW of Leonidas, Minnesota
  6. 2.6 4 km NNE of Virginia, Minnesota
  7. 2.8 3 km ENE of Virginia, Minnesota
  8. 2.5 3 km NNW of Parkville, Minnesota
  9. 2.7 2 km NNE of Kinney, Minnesota
  10. 2.9 7 km S of Buhl, Minnesota
  11. 2.9 6 km NNE of Kinney, Minnesota
  12. 2.7 4 km NNW of Buhl, Minnesota
  13. 2.6 4 km NNW of Mountain Iron, Minnesota
  14. 3.0 3 km N of Kinney, Minnesota
  15. 2.8 0 km SSE of Parkville, Minnesota

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

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