QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2ml

Eastern Montana

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

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Carbon County 34 kmStillwater County 45 kmYellowstone County 66 kmSweet Grass County 92 kmGolden Valley County 101 kmBig Horn County 105 kmMusselshell County 116 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 3.2 (ml)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
34 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Carbon County, 34 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1094 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 34 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 45.5009, -108.8538. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Carbon County, MT 34 km (21 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Carbon County
Stillwater County, MT 45 km (28 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Stillwater County
Yellowstone County, MT 66 km (41 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Yellowstone County
Sweet Grass County, MT 92 km (57 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Sweet Grass County
Golden Valley County, MT 101 km (63 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Golden Valley County
Big Horn County, MT 105 km (65 mi) W of here earthquakes near Big Horn 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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.