QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

13 km W of Greenwater, Washington

· -0.8 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Pierce County 28 kmKing County 37 kmLewis County 77 kmThurston County 80 kmKitsap County 82 kmKittitas County 87 kmSnohomish County 100 kmMason County 104 kmYakima County 114 km
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
Magnitude
M 1.5 (ml)
Depth
-0.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Pierce County, 28 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 566 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 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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

Epicentre 47.1608, -121.8263. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Pierce County, WA 28 km (17 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Pierce County
King County, WA 37 km (23 mi) S of here earthquakes near King County
Lewis County, WA 77 km (48 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Lewis County
Thurston County, WA 80 km (50 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Thurston County
Kitsap County, WA 82 km (51 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Kitsap County
Kittitas County, WA 87 km (54 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kittitas County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 6 km ESE of Tanner, Washington
  2. 1.5 0 km WNW of Pacific, Washington
  3. 1.6 Washington
  4. 1.6 22 km ENE of Ashford, Washington
  5. 1.6 11 km W of Greenwater, Washington
  6. 2.3 3 km W of Hobart, Washington
  7. 2.8 2 km SW of Wilderness Rim, Washington
  8. 1.7 8 km ENE of Snoqualmie, Washington
  9. 1.8 1 km ESE of Kapowsin, Washington
  10. 1.6 2 km ESE of Wilderness Rim, Washington
  11. 1.6 2 km S of Kapowsin, Washington
  12. 1.5 12 km ESE of Riverbend, Washington
  13. 1.9 1 km NNW of Des Moines, Washington
  14. 2.0 Puget Sound region, Washington
  15. 2.4 0 km NW of Des Moines, 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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.