QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

13 km SSE of Vernonia, Oregon

· -0.4 km deep · released about 5.7 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Washington County 21 kmColumbia County 23 kmClark County 52 kmClatsop County 53 kmYamhill County 56 kmTillamook County 57 kmMultnomah County 61 kmCowlitz County 63 kmWahkiakum County 65 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
-0.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Washington County, 21 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 297 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 5.7 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 2,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.7 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 45.7398, -123.1497. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Washington County, OR 21 km (13 mi) N of here earthquakes near Washington County
Columbia County, OR 23 km (14 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Columbia County
Clark County, WA 52 km (32 mi) W of here earthquakes near Clark County
Clatsop County, OR 53 km (33 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Clatsop County
Yamhill County, OR 56 km (35 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Yamhill County
Tillamook County, OR 57 km (35 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Tillamook County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 2 km NNE of Columbia City, Oregon
  2. 1.8 8 km SW of Scappoose, Oregon
  3. 2.2 2 km SSW of Banks, Oregon
  4. 2.0 16 km W of Forest Grove, Oregon
  5. 1.8 5 km N of West Haven, Oregon
  6. 1.6 21 km W of Forest Grove, Oregon
  7. 1.6 10 km WSW of Felida, Washington
  8. 1.5 4 km SSW of Aloha, Oregon
  9. 2.0 4 km N of Newberg, Oregon
  10. 2.0 5 km NW of North Portland, Oregon
  11. 2.1 1 km ESE of Banks, Oregon
  12. 1.6 5 km ENE of Prescott, Oregon
  13. 1.6 1 km WSW of Kalama, Washington
  14. 1.7 4 km NNE of Kalama, Washington
  15. 1.8 5 km WNW of Deer Island, Oregon

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

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