QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

3 km SSE of Randolph, New Jersey

· 5.0 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Morris County 4 kmEssex County 27 kmUnion County 28 kmSomerset County 29 kmPassaic County 32 kmSussex County 36 kmWarren County 38 kmHunterdon County 41 kmHudson County 42 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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
61 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Morris County, 4 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 359 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 61 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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 40.8240, -74.5633. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Morris County, NJ 4 km (3 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Morris County
Essex County, NJ 27 km (17 mi) W of here earthquakes near Essex County
Union County, NJ 28 km (17 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Union County
Somerset County, NJ 29 km (18 mi) N of here earthquakes near Somerset County
Passaic County, NJ 32 km (20 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Passaic County
Sussex County, NJ 36 km (23 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Sussex County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 5 km W of Gladstone, New Jersey
  2. 1.5 1 km NNE of Califon, New Jersey
  3. 2.4 5 km WSW of Bedminster, New Jersey
  4. 1.8 5 km WSW of Gladstone, New Jersey
  5. 1.6 4 km ESE of Califon, New Jersey
  6. 2.8 1 km N of Hillsdale, New Jersey
  7. 3.0 0 km W of Little Ferry, New Jersey
  8. 2.0 3 km SE of Randolph, New Jersey

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 4.8 on 2024-04-05 — it released about 63,000 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.