QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2mb_lg

12 km S of Alton, Kansas

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

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Osborne County 15 kmRooks County 33 kmSmith County 49 kmRussell County 52 kmPhillips County 58 kmEllis County 59 kmMitchell County 64 kmLincoln County 72 kmJewell County 78 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
6.7 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Osborne County, 15 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1155 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 3 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 39.3587, -98.9467. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Osborne County, KS 15 km (10 mi) W of here earthquakes near Osborne County
Rooks County, KS 33 km (20 mi) E of here earthquakes near Rooks County
Smith County, KS 49 km (31 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Smith County
Russell County, KS 52 km (32 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Russell County
Phillips County, KS 58 km (36 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Phillips County
Ellis County, KS 59 km (37 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Ellis County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 9 km SW of Natoma, Kansas
  2. 2.4 12 km NE of Damar, Kansas
  3. 2.9 5 km SW of Kirwin, Kansas
  4. 2.8 10 km SSW of Stockton, Kansas
  5. 2.8 8 km NNW of Stockton, Kansas
  6. 3.3 7 km NNW of Stockton, Kansas
  7. 2.5 1 km NE of Zurich, Kansas
  8. 2.5 11 km NNE of Stockton, Kansas
  9. 2.6 14 km WSW of Natoma, Kansas
  10. 3.0 4 km SE of Paradise, Kansas
  11. 3.0 2 km SW of Zurich, Kansas
  12. 2.7 11 km NW of Stockton, Kansas
  13. 3.4 10 km NW of Woodston, Kansas
  14. 2.9 13 km NNE of Luray, Kansas
  15. 3.0 6 km SW of Luray, 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 4.6 on 2019-06-22 — it released about 130 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.