QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

1 km SSW of Alburtis, Pennsylvania

· 7.0 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lehigh County 13 kmBerks County 28 kmNorthampton County 38 kmMontgomery County 38 kmBucks County 46 kmCarbon County 47 kmSchuylkill County 56 kmHunterdon County 60 kmChester County 60 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Lehigh County, 13 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 905 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 40.4998, -75.6109. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Lehigh County, PA 13 km (8 mi) S of here earthquakes near Lehigh County
Berks County, PA 28 km (18 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Berks County
Northampton County, PA 38 km (24 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Northampton County
Montgomery County, PA 38 km (24 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Montgomery County
Bucks County, PA 46 km (29 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Bucks County
Carbon County, PA 47 km (29 mi) S of here earthquakes near Carbon County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 3 km WSW of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
  2. 1.9 0 km W of Shillington, Pennsylvania

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.