QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

3 km WSW of Point Roberts, Washington

· 19 km deep · released about 17 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Juan County 52 kmWhatcom County 96 kmIsland County 97 kmSkagit County 110 kmClallam County 111 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
19 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Juan County, 52 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 652 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 17 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 640,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 57× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 17 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 48.9770, -123.1290. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Juan County, WA 52 km (32 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Juan County
Whatcom County, WA 96 km (59 mi) W of here earthquakes near Whatcom County
Island County, WA 97 km (60 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Island County
Skagit County, WA 110 km (69 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Skagit County
Clallam County, WA 111 km (69 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Clallam County
Snohomish County, WA 144 km (89 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Snohomish County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 5 km ENE of Coquitlam, Canada
  2. 1.6 8 km WNW of Orcas, Washington
  3. 1.7 8 km WNW of Orcas, Washington
  4. 1.8 8 km WNW of Orcas, Washington
  5. 2.2 9 km SW of White Rock, Canada
  6. 2.2 5 km NW of Orcas, Washington
  7. 1.5 7 km WNW of Friday Harbor, Washington
  8. 1.9 10 km ESE of Salt Spring Island, Canada
  9. 1.6 10 km NW of Ganges, Canada
  10. 1.8 9 km WNW of White Rock, Canada
  11. 2.7 10 km SE of Salt Spring Island, Canada
  12. 1.8 8 km SSW of Birch Bay, Washington
  13. 1.8 10 km S of Point Roberts, Washington
  14. 2.0 1 km SSW of North Saanich, Canada
  15. 1.7 6 km E of North Saanich, 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.