Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5ml
Earthquake near Clifton, CO
No earthquake was likely felt in Clifton in the 24 hours to 6:03 pm MST (01:03 UTC). The last one was M 5.0, 748 km (465 mi) ESE, at 4:21 am MDT on 23 July 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 499 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Clifton
This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 50 km (31 mi) north of Clifton, CO, at 9:15 pm MDT on 14 May 2022 (03:15 UTC), 5.0 km deep.
USGS: 28 km NW of De Beque, Colorado
51 km (32 mi) NNE of Grand Junction, CO
- When
- 9:15 pm MDT on 14 May 2022 ()
- Where
- 50 km (31 mi) north of Clifton, CO · earthquakes near Clifton
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 5.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Garfield County, 44 km E
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1572 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Clifton, CO
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Clifton, 50 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 4.1 on 2018-08-24 — about 7,900 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.4 46 km NW of Parachute, Colorado · 29 km N of this epicentre
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 39.5367, -108.4177. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield County, CO | 44 km (27 mi) | E | earthquakes near Garfield County |
| Rio Blanco County, CO | 52 km (32 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Rio Blanco County |
| Mesa County, CO | 58 km (36 mi) | S | earthquakes near Mesa County |
| Delta County, CO | 89 km (55 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Delta County |
| Uintah County, UT | 115 km (71 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Uintah County |
| Grand County, UT | 118 km (73 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Grand County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
6 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.3 15 km WSW of Collbran, Colorado
- 2.0 14 km NE of Fruita, Colorado
- 2.8 29 km WNW of De Beque, Colorado
- 1.7 24 km NNE of Loma, Colorado
- 2.0 28 km ESE of Rangely, Colorado
- 2.5 Colorado
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
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.