QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8ml

4 km S of Richland, Washington

· 8.1 km deep · released about 550 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Benton County 18 kmFranklin County 43 kmWalla Walla County 61 kmUmatilla County 84 kmMorrow County 95 kmAdams County 103 kmColumbia County 105 kmGrant County 109 kmYakima County 115 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 2.8 (ml)
Depth
8.1 km below the surface
Felt
354 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Benton County, 18 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 520 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 354 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 550 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 28,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 19,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.7× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 550 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 46.2455, -119.2785. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Benton County, WA 18 km (11 mi) E of here earthquakes near Benton County
Franklin County, WA 43 km (27 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Franklin County
Walla Walla County, WA 61 km (38 mi) W of here earthquakes near Walla Walla County
Umatilla County, OR 84 km (52 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Umatilla County
Morrow County, OR 95 km (59 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Morrow County
Adams County, WA 103 km (64 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Adams 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. 1.7 11 km W of Highland, Washington
  2. 1.5 14 km NE of Hermiston, Oregon
  3. 1.8 4 km SSW of Wallula, Washington
  4. 2.1 2 km N of Highland, Washington
  5. 1.7 4 km ESE of Umatilla, Oregon
  6. 1.8 11 km W of Highland, Washington
  7. 1.7 12 km ENE of Hermiston, Oregon
  8. 2.0 7 km WNW of Highland, Washington
  9. 1.8 3 km SSW of West Richland, Washington
  10. 1.8 11 km SSW of Tri-Cities, Washington
  11. 2.8 5 km ESE of Benton City, Washington
  12. 2.0 4 km ESE of Umatilla, Oregon
  13. 1.9 4 km ESE of Umatilla, Oregon
  14. 2.0 16 km S of Mesa, Washington
  15. 1.7 10 km SW of Kennewick, 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.