Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.9ml
33 km SSW of Playas, New Mexico
Yes. A magnitude 2.9 earthquake was recorded 33 km SSW of Playas, New Mexico, at 5:39 pm MDT on 20 September 2021 (23:39 UTC), 20 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 2.9 (ml)
- Depth
- 20 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Hidalgo County, 27 km N
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1804 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Lordsburg, NM
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Lordsburg, 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 25 km (16 mi) from the epicentre. 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 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
- 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 31.6556, -108.7136. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hidalgo County, NM | 27 km (17 mi) | N | earthquakes near Hidalgo County |
| Cochise County, AZ | 102 km (64 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Cochise County |
| Luna County, NM | 109 km (67 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Luna County |
| Grant County, NM | 124 km (77 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Grant County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
1 earthquake has 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.