QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3ml

5 km SSW of Walsenburg, Colorado

· 5.0 km deep · released about 85 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Huerfano County 18 kmCostilla County 64 kmPueblo County 71 kmLas Animas County 73 kmCuster County 77 kmAlamosa County 87 kmOtero County 101 kmColfax County 108 kmFremont County 112 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 2.3 (ml)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Huerfano County, 18 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 63 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 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 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 37.5752, -104.8063. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Huerfano County, CO 18 km (11 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Huerfano County
Costilla County, CO 64 km (40 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Costilla County
Pueblo County, CO 71 km (44 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Pueblo County
Las Animas County, CO 73 km (45 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Las Animas County
Custer County, CO 77 km (48 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Custer County
Alamosa County, CO 87 km (54 mi) E of here earthquakes near Alamosa County

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

Aftershocks so far

7 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. 2.9 5 km SSW of Walsenburg, Colorado
  7. 2.3 7 km SW of Walsenburg, 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 1,000 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.