QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

16 km N of Kittitas, Washington

· -0.9 km deep · released about 7.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kittitas County 20 kmGrant County 72 kmYakima County 80 kmChelan County 82 kmDouglas County 86 kmKing 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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
-0.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kittitas County, 20 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1379 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 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
  4. 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.

Where

Epicentre 47.1353, -120.4085. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kittitas County, WA 20 km (13 mi) E of here earthquakes near Kittitas County
Grant County, WA 72 km (45 mi) W of here earthquakes near Grant County
Yakima County, WA 80 km (49 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Yakima County
Chelan County, WA 82 km (51 mi) S of here earthquakes near Chelan County
Douglas County, WA 86 km (54 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Douglas County
King County, WA 114 km (71 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near King County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 11 km N of Selah, Washington
  2. 1.5 11 km N of Selah, Washington
  3. 1.6 12 km NW of Thorp, Washington
  4. 1.8 9 km SSW of Ellensburg, Washington
  5. 1.7 3 km ESE of Kittitas, Washington
  6. 2.1 11 km NNE of Selah, Washington
  7. 1.8 15 km SW of Thorp, Washington
  8. 2.0 9 km S of Ellensburg, Washington
  9. 1.9 9 km S of Ellensburg, Washington
  10. 1.9 9 km S of Ellensburg, Washington
  11. 1.7 5 km ESE of Kittitas, Washington
  12. 1.9 9 km SSW of Ellensburg, Washington
  13. 2.0 9 km SSW of Ellensburg, Washington
  14. 1.8 9 km S of Ellensburg, Washington
  15. 2.1 9 km SSW of Ellensburg, 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.