19 km SSE of Paisley, Oregon

2020-12-03 00:35 UTC · -1.6 km deep · released about 49 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: 2020-12-03 00:35 UTC
Magnitude: M 2.1 (ml)
Depth: -1.6 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Lake County, 29 km N
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 2125 days ago · we first saw it 2125 days ago

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

USGS catalogues this as explosion, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 49 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 310,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 220,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.1 about 49 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 42.5358, -120.4528. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Lake County, OR	29 km (18 mi)	S of here	earthquakes near Lake County
Klamath County, OR	99 km (62 mi)	E of here	earthquakes near Klamath County
Modoc County, CA	107 km (67 mi)	NNE of here	earthquakes near Modoc County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

2.1 8 km WNW of Lakeview, Oregon 15:41 UTC
1.7 9 km WNW of Lakeview, Oregon 03:47 UTC
2.8 9 km WNW of Lakeview, Oregon 08:46 UTC
1.7 1 km WNW of Lakeview, Oregon 20:38 UTC
1.7 19 km SSW of Plush, Oregon 16:22 UTC
1.6 23 km NNE of Lakeview, Oregon 20:30 UTC
1.9 17 km WSW of Plush, Oregon 10:03 UTC
1.8 16 km SSE of Paisley, Oregon 19:01 UTC
2.2 17 km SSE of Paisley, Oregon 23:59 UTC
1.7 26 km N of Lakeview, Oregon 05:42 UTC
1.5 26 km N of Lakeview, Oregon 00:37 UTC
1.7 28 km N of Lakeview, Oregon 22:31 UTC
1.5 26 km N of Lakeview, Oregon 08:12 UTC
1.5 29 km N of Lakeview, Oregon 11:07 UTC
1.7 29 km N of Lakeview, Oregon 10:58 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 09:53 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.