explosion · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6md
Earthquake near Gold Bar, WA
No earthquake was likely felt in Gold Bar in the 24 hours to 10:28 pm PST (06:28 UTC). The last one was M 1.7, 3 km (2 mi) E, at 3:34 pm PDT on 10 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Gold Bar
No: USGS classifies this as a explosion, not an earthquake. A magnitude 1.6 explosion was recorded 5 km (3 mi) south-southeast of Gold Bar, WA, at 4:15 pm PDT on 8 June 2021 (23:15 UTC), less than 1 km deep.
USGS: 4 km SSW of May Creek, Washington
55 km (34 mi) ENE of Seattle, WA · 36 km (22 mi) ENE of Redmond, WA
- When
- 4:15 pm PDT on 8 June 2021 ()
- Where
- 5 km (3 mi) south-southeast of Gold Bar, WA · earthquakes near Gold Bar
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (md)
- Depth
- -1.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Snohomish County, 27 km NNW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Cherry Creek fault, 17 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 614 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Gold Bar, WA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Gold Bar, WA. No account or email needed.
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 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Gold Bar, 5 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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Sultan, Woods Creek, Monroe, Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Monroe North, Duvall.
USGS catalogues this as explosion, not an earthquake.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 7.8 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.8 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 4.6 on 2019-07-12 — about 29,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.4 8 km NNE of Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Washington · 16 km WSW of this epicentre
- 5.2 9 km NE of Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Washington · 13 km WSW of this epicentre
- 5.0 4 km ENE of Machias, Washington · 31 km NW 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 47.8145, -121.6808. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snohomish County, WA | 27 km (17 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Snohomish County |
| King County, WA | 38 km (23 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near King County |
| Kitsap County, WA | 75 km (47 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Kitsap County |
| Skagit County, WA | 76 km (47 mi) | N | earthquakes near Skagit County |
| Chelan County, WA | 79 km (49 mi) | E | earthquakes near Chelan County |
| Island County, WA | 83 km (52 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Island County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
58 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.6 2 km E of Granite Falls, Washington
- 1.6 4 km NE of Granite Falls, Washington
- 1.6 6 km SW of Sultan, Washington
- 1.5 Washington
- 1.5 Washington
- 2.0 Washington
- 1.8 2 km W of Darrington, Washington
- 1.7 4 km E of Granite Falls, Washington
- 1.9 4 km E of Granite Falls, Washington
- 1.9 2 km E of Union Hill-Novelty Hill, Washington
- 1.8 1 km W of Redmond, Washington
- 1.6 11 km SSW of Gold Bar, Washington
- 1.5 1 km NNW of Granite Falls, Washington
- 2.4 7 km ENE of Fall City, Washington
- 2.0 7 km NE of Fall City, Washington
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.