QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9ml

27 km SW of Atoka, New Mexico

· 5.0 km deep · released about 680 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Eddy County 26 kmChaves County 88 kmLea County 110 kmOtero County 112 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 (ml)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Eddy County, 26 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 162 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

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 32.5690, -104.5544. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Eddy County, NM 26 km (16 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Eddy County
Chaves County, NM 88 km (55 mi) S of here earthquakes near Chaves County
Lea County, NM 110 km (68 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Lea County
Otero County, NM 112 km (70 mi) E of here earthquakes near Otero County
Loving County, TX 123 km (77 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Loving County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 33 km SSE of Hope, New Mexico
  2. 2.8 13 km WNW of Whites City, New Mexico
  3. 2.5 19 km NW of Whites City, New Mexico
  4. 2.7 22 km NNW of Whites City, New Mexico
  5. 2.9 5 km SSE of Livingston Wheeler, New Mexico
  6. 3.1 25 km WNW of La Huerta, New Mexico
  7. 2.5 26 km SSE of Hope, New Mexico
  8. 2.6 24 km SSW of Atoka, New Mexico
  9. 2.9 27 km WNW of Whites City, New Mexico
  10. 2.6 28 km SW of Atoka, New Mexico
  11. 3.4 27 km SSE of Hope, New Mexico
  12. 2.6 28 km SSE of Hope, New Mexico
  13. 3.1 27 km SSE of Hope, New Mexico
  14. 2.9 25 km WNW of Whites City, New Mexico
  15. 2.3 6 km ESE of Livingston Wheeler, New Mexico

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 4.0 on 2024-02-23 — it released about 45 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.