QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1mb_lg

5 km SW of Gypsum, Kansas

· 5.0 km deep · released about 1,300 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Saline County 21 kmMcPherson County 34 kmDickinson County 35 kmMarion County 47 kmOttawa County 55 kmEllsworth County 64 kmHarvey County 69 kmMorris County 71 kmGeary County 71 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 3.1 (mb_lg)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
6 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Saline County, 21 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1640 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 6 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.4× 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 38.6657, -97.4701. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Saline County, KS 21 km (13 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Saline County
McPherson County, KS 34 km (21 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near McPherson County
Dickinson County, KS 35 km (22 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Dickinson County
Marion County, KS 47 km (29 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Marion County
Ottawa County, KS 55 km (34 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Ottawa County
Ellsworth County, KS 64 km (40 mi) E of here earthquakes near Ellsworth 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. 2.9 5 km SSW of Assaria, Kansas
  2. 2.5 5 km SW of Hope, Kansas
  3. 3.5 6 km E of Assaria, Kansas
  4. 2.6 6 km NW of Ramona, Kansas
  5. 3.7 10 km SW of Gypsum, Kansas
  6. 2.7 7 km SE of Enterprise, Kansas
  7. 2.6 9 km SW of Gypsum, Kansas
  8. 2.9 7 km WSW of Gypsum, Kansas
  9. 3.3 5 km E of Assaria, Kansas
  10. 3.3 7 km ENE of Assaria, Kansas
  11. 2.7 3 km E of Assaria, Kansas
  12. 3.4 6 km ENE of Assaria, Kansas
  13. 2.4 5 km NE of Hope, Kansas
  14. 2.6 7 km SW of Gypsum, Kansas
  15. 3.5 5 km NNW of Herington, Kansas

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 2021-12-08 — it released about 63 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.