QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9mb_lg

11 km E of Cowles, Nebraska

· 5.0 km deep · released about 680 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Webster County 16 kmNuckolls County 23 kmAdams County 42 kmClay County 45 kmJewell County 45 kmFranklin County 55 kmSmith County 59 kmThayer County 61 kmKearney County 65 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
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Webster County, 16 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1115 days ago

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

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 40.1751, -98.3148. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Webster County, NE 16 km (10 mi) E of here earthquakes near Webster County
Nuckolls County, NE 23 km (14 mi) W of here earthquakes near Nuckolls County
Adams County, NE 42 km (26 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Adams County
Clay County, NE 45 km (28 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Clay County
Jewell County, KS 45 km (28 mi) N of here earthquakes near Jewell County
Franklin County, NE 55 km (34 mi) E of here earthquakes near Franklin County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 7 km E of Cowles, Nebraska
  2. 2.8 4 km ESE of Cowles, Nebraska
  3. 2.5 6 km ESE of Cowles, Nebraska
  4. 2.4 4 km ENE of Cowles, Nebraska
  5. 2.6 8 km N of Guide Rock, Nebraska
  6. 2.6 9 km E of Cowles, Nebraska
  7. 2.3 3 km S of Cowles, Nebraska
  8. 4.1 4 km E of Cowles, Nebraska
  9. 2.8 7 km ENE of Cowles, Nebraska
  10. 2.5 11 km E of Cowles, Nebraska
  11. 3.5 10 km NNE of Guide Rock, Nebraska
  12. 2.8 11 km SSW of Lawrence, Nebraska
  13. 2.6 10 km E of Cowles, Nebraska
  14. 2.8 9 km E of Cowles, Nebraska
  15. 3.4 Nebraska

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.