Earthquake near West Yellowstone, MT

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 42 km (26 mi) from the epicentre. In West Yellowstone, 18 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: West Yellowstone 18 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,500 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 220,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 9,800× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,900× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,500 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.6× more

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

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.4 on 2017-06-16 — about 68 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 13 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.2 The 1959 Hebgen Lake, Montana Earthquake · 23 km WNW of this epicentre Aug 18, 1959
2. 6.5 14 km N of Madison Junction, Wyoming · 3 km NE of this epicentre Aug 18, 1959
3. 6.3 22 km SW of Mammoth, Wyoming · 8 km NNE of this epicentre Aug 18, 1959
4. 6.0 21 km E of West Yellowstone, Montana · 13 km SSE of this epicentre Aug 19, 1959
5. 5.9 26 km SSE of Mammoth, Wyoming · 25 km E of this epicentre Jun 30, 1975

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 44.7518, -110.9168. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 28 km E of West Yellowstone, Montana 11:43 UTC
2. 1.6 2 km SSE of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 02:21 UTC
3. 2.7 28 km E of West Yellowstone, Montana 17:34 UTC
4. 1.7 45 km SSE of Mammoth, Wyoming 03:50 UTC
5. 1.6 27 km S of Mammoth, Wyoming 16:26 UTC
6. 2.6 28 km E of West Yellowstone, Montana 13:31 UTC
7. 1.8 27 km S of Mammoth, Wyoming 07:54 UTC
8. 1.5 18 km NE of West Yellowstone, Montana 01:12 UTC
9. 1.9 5 km ESE of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 21:21 UTC
10. 2.2 17 km ENE of West Yellowstone, Montana 14:13 UTC
11. 1.6 9 km E of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana 20:38 UTC
12. 1.6 17 km NE of West Yellowstone, Montana 19:28 UTC
13. 1.7 18 km ENE of West Yellowstone, Montana 11:11 UTC
14. 2.2 17 km ENE of West Yellowstone, Montana 05:14 UTC
15. 1.5 18 km NE of West Yellowstone, Montana 20:02 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 13:44 UTC. 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.