18 km NE of West Yellowstone, Montana

2019-05-18 13:03 UTC · 7.7 km deep · released about 21 lb of TNT

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: 2019-05-18 13:03 UTC
Magnitude: M 1.9 (ml)
Depth: 7.7 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Fremont County, 76 km SW
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 2687 days ago · we first saw it 2687 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 21 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 730,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 520,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 46× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 1.9 about 21 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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 44.7660, -110.9195. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Fremont County, ID	76 km (47 mi)	NE of here	earthquakes near Fremont County
Park County, MT	83 km (52 mi)	SSW of here	earthquakes near Park County
Gallatin County, MT	86 km (53 mi)	SSE of here	earthquakes near Gallatin County
Teton County, WY	89 km (55 mi)	NNW of here	earthquakes near Teton County
Madison County, MT	100 km (62 mi)	SE of here	earthquakes near Madison County
Park County, WY	109 km (68 mi)	WNW of here	earthquakes near Park County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

2.1 39 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana 08:18 UTC
1.6 8 km ENE of West Yellowstone, Montana 03:26 UTC
1.5 14 km E of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 05:53 UTC
1.6 41 km SSE of Mammoth, Wyoming 00:40 UTC
2.1 2 km NNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 16:46 UTC
2.4 2 km NNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 07:00 UTC
1.8 2 km NNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 12:41 UTC
1.6 2 km NNW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 11:49 UTC
1.6 1 km NW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 08:24 UTC
1.7 1 km NW of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 08:09 UTC
1.7 7 km NE of West Yellowstone, Montana 03:05 UTC
1.5 32 km E of West Yellowstone, Montana 15:36 UTC
1.6 32 km E of West Yellowstone, Montana 15:35 UTC
2.0 32 km E of West Yellowstone, Montana 15:35 UTC
1.9 21 km SSE of Mammoth, Wyoming 13:19 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:06 UTC. 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 4.4 on 2017-06-16 — it released about 5,100 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

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.