QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2mb_lg

26 km N of Cimarron, New Mexico

· 5.0 km deep · released about 1,900 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Colfax County 29 kmTaos County 67 kmCostilla County 74 kmMora County 86 kmLas Animas County 100 kmHuerfano County 104 kmAlamosa County 119 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 3.2 (mb_lg)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
27 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Colfax County, 29 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1717 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 27 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,900 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,900× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,600× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,900 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2× more

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 36.7539, -104.9197. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Colfax County, NM 29 km (18 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Colfax County
Taos County, NM 67 km (42 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Taos County
Costilla County, CO 74 km (46 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Costilla County
Mora County, NM 86 km (53 mi) N of here earthquakes near Mora County
Las Animas County, CO 100 km (62 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Las Animas County
Huerfano County, CO 104 km (65 mi) S of here earthquakes near Huerfano County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 4.3 6 km NNE of Segundo, Colorado
  2. 1.9 22 km SSW of Weston, Colorado
  3. 1.8 22 km S of Weston, Colorado
  4. 2.4 18 km S of Weston, Colorado
  5. 2.6 26 km S of Weston, Colorado
  6. 2.1 25 km S of Weston, Colorado
  7. 1.7 26 km S of Weston, Colorado
  8. 2.1 24 km SSW of Segundo, Colorado
  9. 1.7 20 km SSW of Segundo, Colorado
  10. 1.5 27 km S of Segundo, Colorado
  11. 2.4 24 km S of Weston, Colorado
  12. 2.2 12 km SW of Weston, Colorado
  13. 1.8 26 km S of Weston, Colorado
  14. 1.6 34 km S of Weston, Colorado
  15. 1.5 32 km S of Weston, 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 4.2 on 2016-12-23 — it released about 32 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.