Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.5ml
48 km SW of Thatcher, Utah
Yes. A magnitude 2.5 earthquake was recorded 48 km SW of Thatcher, Utah, 99 km (61 mi) NW of Salt Lake City, UT, at 5:12 am MST on 23 December 2016 (12:12 UTC), less than 1 km deep.
99 km (61 mi) NW of Salt Lake City, UT
- When
- Magnitude
- M 2.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 0.6 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Box Elder County, 35 km NW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Great Salt Lake fault, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3522 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Plain City, UT
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 22 km (14 mi) from the epicentre. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 190 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 80,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 57,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.1× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.5 about 190 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.
For this area
No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.6 The 1934 Hansel Valley, Utah Earthquake · 27 km N of this epicentre
- 5.9 35 km SSW of Howell, Utah · 13 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.6 Hansel Valley, Utah · 42 km N of this epicentre
- 5.5 56 km SW of Howell, Utah · 23 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.2 27 km SW of Thatcher, Utah · 22 km ENE of this epicentre
Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.
Where
Epicentre 41.4203, -112.7425. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box Elder County, UT | 35 km (22 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Box Elder County |
| Davis County, UT | 62 km (39 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Davis County |
| Weber County, UT | 74 km (46 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Weber County |
| Oneida County, ID | 87 km (54 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Oneida County |
| Cache County, UT | 90 km (56 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Cache County |
| Morgan County, UT | 104 km (65 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Morgan County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
55 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.9 17 km W of Corinne, Utah
- 1.9 56 km W of Hooper, Utah
- 1.9 58 km W of Hooper, Utah
- 1.9 60 km W of Hooper, Utah
- 1.9 63 km W of Hooper, Utah
- 1.6 60 km W of Hooper, Utah
- 2.2 10 km WNW of Howell, Utah
- 1.7 11 km S of Snowville, Utah
- 1.5 44 km SSW of Snowville, Utah
- 2.8 13 km S of Snowville, Utah
- 2.0 13 km S of Snowville, Utah
- 1.7 13 km S of Snowville, Utah
- 2.8 13 km S of Snowville, Utah
- 1.6 11 km SW of Thatcher, Utah
- 2.3 11 km SW of Thatcher, Utah
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
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.