QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

3 km W of La Veta, Colorado

· 7.0 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Huerfano County 22 kmCostilla County 42 kmAlamosa County 66 kmCuster County 73 kmPueblo County 89 kmLas Animas County 91 kmConejos County 105 kmColfax County 105 kmFremont County 111 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Huerfano County, 22 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 337 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 63× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 37.5022, -105.0487. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Huerfano County, CO 22 km (14 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Huerfano County
Costilla County, CO 42 km (26 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Costilla County
Alamosa County, CO 66 km (41 mi) E of here earthquakes near Alamosa County
Custer County, CO 73 km (45 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Custer County
Pueblo County, CO 89 km (55 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Pueblo County
Las Animas County, CO 91 km (57 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Las Animas 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. 1.8 10 km SW of Walsenburg, Colorado
  2. 1.5 10 km SW of Walsenburg, Colorado
  3. 2.4 10 km SW of Walsenburg, Colorado
  4. 2.7 8 km SW of Walsenburg, Colorado
  5. 2.5 12 km NNW of Walsenburg, Colorado
  6. 1.6 10 km SSE of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  7. 1.5 10 km SSE of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  8. 1.5 7 km SSW of Weston, Colorado
  9. 1.6 10 km SSE of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  10. 2.9 5 km SSW of Walsenburg, Colorado
  11. 2.3 7 km SW of Walsenburg, Colorado
  12. 2.3 5 km SSW of Walsenburg, Colorado
  13. 1.5 19 km NNE of Fort Garland, Colorado
  14. 2.5 12 km SE of Stonewall Gap, Colorado
  15. 1.6 8 km N of Segundo, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.3 on 2023-03-10 — it released about 5,600 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.