QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

7 km ENE of Waitsburg, Washington

· -0.5 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Columbia County 12 kmWalla Walla County 32 kmGarfield County 44 kmAsotin County 65 kmFranklin County 70 kmWhitman County 80 kmAdams County 88 kmUmatilla County 93 kmNez Perce County 100 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
-0.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Columbia County, 12 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 681 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 12 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 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 870,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 78× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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 46.2843, -118.0645. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Columbia County, WA 12 km (7 mi) W of here earthquakes near Columbia County
Walla Walla County, WA 32 km (20 mi) E of here earthquakes near Walla Walla County
Garfield County, WA 44 km (27 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Garfield County
Asotin County, WA 65 km (41 mi) W of here earthquakes near Asotin County
Franklin County, WA 70 km (44 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Franklin County
Whitman County, WA 80 km (50 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Whitman County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 6 km WSW of Dayton, Washington
  2. 1.7 15 km NW of Pomeroy, Washington
  3. 1.6 5 km SW of Dayton, Washington
  4. 1.7 6 km WSW of Dayton, Washington
  5. 1.6 11 km E of Milton-Freewater, Oregon
  6. 1.7 11 km E of Milton-Freewater, Oregon
  7. 2.0 16 km WNW of Pomeroy, Washington
  8. 1.7 6 km WSW of Dayton, Washington
  9. 2.0 4 km ESE of Milton-Freewater, Oregon
  10. 1.6 7 km SW of Dayton, Washington
  11. 1.6 19 km SE of Walla Walla East, Washington
  12. 1.9 7 km WSW of Dayton, 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.