Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.0ml
Earthquake near Lovington, NM
Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 22 km (14 mi) south-southwest of Lovington, NM, at 9:56 am MDT on 20 October 2026 (15:56 UTC), 1.8 km deep. No felt reports to USGS yet.
USGS: 22 km SSW of Lovington, New Mexico
- When
- 9:56 am MDT on 20 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 22 km (14 mi) south-southwest of Lovington, NM · earthquakes near Lovington
- Magnitude
- M 3.0 (ml)
- Depth
- 1.8 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Lea County, 6 km ENE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3 hours ago
Earthquake alerts for Lovington, NM
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Lovington, NM. No account or email needed.
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 small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 73 km (45 mi) from the epicentre. In Lovington, 22 km away, the estimate is intensity III (weak). 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.
Likely felt in: Lovington 22 km, intensity III · Hobbs 33 km, intensity III · Eunice 48 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 950 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 350,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11,000× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.0 about 950 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 32.7737, -103.4761. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lea County, NM | 6 km (4 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Lea County |
| Yoakum County, TX | 74 km (46 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Yoakum County |
| Gaines County, TX | 79 km (49 mi) | E | earthquakes near Gaines County |
| Eddy County, NM | 85 km (53 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Eddy County |
| Andrews County, TX | 94 km (58 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Andrews County |
| Loving County, TX | 104 km (64 mi) | S | earthquakes near Loving County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
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.