quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8ml
Earthquake near Tooele, UT
No earthquake was likely felt in Tooele in the 24 hours to 4:58 pm MST (23:58 UTC). The last one was M 2.3, 11 km (7 mi) E, at 10:08 am MDT on 10 September 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 4 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Tooele
No: USGS classifies this as a quarry blast, not an earthquake. A magnitude 1.8 quarry blast was recorded 11 km (7 mi) east of Tooele, UT, at 5:08 pm MDT on 3 October 2023 (23:08 UTC), less than 1 km deep.
USGS: Utah
17 km (10 mi) WSW of West Jordan, UT · 13 km (8 mi) WNW of Herriman, UT
- When
- 5:08 pm MDT on 3 October 2023 ()
- Where
- 11 km (7 mi) east of Tooele, UT · earthquakes near Tooele
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (ml)
- Depth
- -2.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Salt Lake County, 26 km NE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Oquirrh fault, 4 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 1136 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Tooele, 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 minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 14 km (9 mi) from the epicentre. In Tooele, 11 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: Tooele 11 km, intensity II · Herriman 12 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 17 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 900,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 640,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 57× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 17 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
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 5.7 on 2020-03-18 — about 640,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.3 Near Salt Lake City, Utah · 37 km ENE of this epicentre
- 5.0 1 km NE of Magna, Utah · 23 km NNE 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 40.5243, -112.1690. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake County, UT | 26 km (16 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Salt Lake County |
| Davis County, UT | 57 km (36 mi) | N | earthquakes near Davis County |
| Utah County, UT | 62 km (38 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Utah County |
| Morgan County, UT | 80 km (50 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Morgan County |
| Tooele County, UT | 81 km (50 mi) | W | earthquakes near Tooele County |
| Weber County, UT | 87 km (54 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Weber 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.
- 0.2 7 km NE of Magna, Utah
- 0.5 7 km NE of Magna, Utah
- 0.7 13 km NNW of Magna, Utah
- 0.5 5 km NW of Saratoga Springs, Utah
- 0.9 6 km NNW of Saratoga Springs, Utah
- 1.1 6 km NE of Magna, Utah
- 1.0 6 km SSW of Bingham Canyon, Utah
- 2.0 6 km WNW of Lehi, Utah
- 1.6 5 km SSW of Bingham Canyon, Utah
- 2.3 3 km SW of Bingham Canyon, Utah
- 1.6 5 km NNW of Saratoga Springs, Utah
- 2.9 6 km NNW of Saratoga Springs, Utah
- 1.6 6 km NNW of Saratoga Springs, Utah
- 2.2 7 km NNW of Saratoga Springs, Utah
- 2.2 5 km ENE of Magna, 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.