QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9mb_lg

5 km SW of Kirwin, Kansas

· 5.0 km deep · released about 680 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Phillips County 22 kmRooks County 35 kmSmith County 37 kmOsborne County 47 kmHarlan County 63 kmFranklin County 63 kmNorton County 64 kmGraham County 68 kmEllis County 81 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 2.9 (mb_lg)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
5 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Phillips County, 22 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 214 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 5 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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 39.6372, -99.1741. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Phillips County, KS 22 km (14 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Phillips County
Rooks County, KS 35 km (22 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Rooks County
Smith County, KS 37 km (23 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Smith County
Osborne County, KS 47 km (29 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Osborne County
Harlan County, NE 63 km (39 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Harlan County
Franklin County, NE 63 km (39 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Franklin County

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

Aftershocks so far

1 earthquake has been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 2.4 12 km NE of Damar, 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.

On USGS

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