QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

10 km E of Orcas, Washington

· 17 km deep · released about 5.7 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Juan County 25 kmIsland County 51 kmSkagit County 73 kmWhatcom County 75 kmClallam County 98 kmSnohomish County 98 kmJefferson County 104 kmKitsap County 108 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
17 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
San Juan County, 25 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 570 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

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 48.6088, -122.7970. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Juan County, WA 25 km (16 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Juan County
Island County, WA 51 km (32 mi) N of here earthquakes near Island County
Skagit County, WA 73 km (46 mi) W of here earthquakes near Skagit County
Whatcom County, WA 75 km (47 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Whatcom County
Clallam County, WA 98 km (61 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Clallam County
Snohomish County, WA 98 km (61 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

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

  1. 2.2 5 km NW of Orcas, Washington
  2. 2.4 4 km SSW of Anacortes, Washington
  3. 2.0 5 km N of Anacortes, Washington
  4. 2.7 5 km N of Anacortes, Washington
  5. 1.8 4 km SSW of Anacortes, Washington
  6. 1.5 7 km WNW of Friday Harbor, Washington
  7. 1.6 3 km SE of Alger, Washington
  8. 1.6 4 km SSE of Mount Vernon, Washington
  9. 2.7 12 km WSW of Anacortes, Washington
  10. 1.8 8 km W of Ault Field, Washington
  11. 2.3 1 km NNE of La Conner, Washington
  12. 1.9 3 km E of Bay View, Washington
  13. 2.1 4 km SE of Mount Vernon, Washington
  14. 2.0 4 km WNW of Edison, Washington
  15. 2.2 2 km NNE of La Conner, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.5 on 2025-03-03 — it released about 30,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.