QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

10 km NNE of Maple Falls, Washington

· -0.4 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Whatcom County 25 kmSkagit County 61 kmSan Juan County 96 kmIsland County 106 kmSnohomish County 109 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
-0.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Whatcom County, 25 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 895 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 10 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 92× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 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 49.0177, -122.0418. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Whatcom County, WA 25 km (15 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Whatcom County
Skagit County, WA 61 km (38 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Skagit County
San Juan County, WA 96 km (60 mi) NE of here earthquakes near San Juan County
Island County, WA 106 km (66 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Island County
Snohomish County, WA 109 km (68 mi) N of here earthquakes near Snohomish County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 7 km ENE of Abbotsford, Canada
  2. 1.8 15 km ESE of Acme, Washington
  3. 1.8 8 km N of Maple Falls, Washington
  4. 1.5 11 km NE of Abbotsford, Canada
  5. 1.8 5 km E of Acme, Washington
  6. 1.5 10 km NE of Abbotsford, Canada
  7. 1.7 12 km E of Mission, Canada
  8. 1.8 12 km ENE of Mission, Canada
  9. 1.5 8 km NE of Abbotsford, Canada
  10. 2.6 7 km ENE of Ferndale, Washington
  11. 1.7 4 km N of Maple Falls, Washington
  12. 1.6 7 km SSW of Chilliwack, Canada
  13. 1.7 10 km NE of Abbotsford, Canada
  14. 1.7 10 km NE of Abbotsford, Canada
  15. 1.5 13 km ENE of Mission, Canada

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.