QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1ml

2 km S of River Road, Washington

· -0.2 km deep · released about 38 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Island County 37 kmJefferson County 40 kmSan Juan County 52 kmClallam County 57 kmKitsap County 58 kmMason County 77 kmSnohomish County 102 kmSkagit County 110 kmKing 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 2.1 (ml)
Depth
-0.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Island County, 37 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 508 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 38 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 390,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 280,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 25× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 38 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 48.0437, -123.1328. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Island County, WA 37 km (23 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Island County
Jefferson County, WA 40 km (25 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Jefferson County
San Juan County, WA 52 km (32 mi) S of here earthquakes near San Juan County
Clallam County, WA 57 km (35 mi) E of here earthquakes near Clallam County
Kitsap County, WA 58 km (36 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Kitsap County
Mason County, WA 77 km (48 mi) N of here earthquakes near Mason County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 4 km S of Port Ludlow, Washington
  2. 1.5 2 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington
  3. 1.8 21 km S of Port Angeles East, Washington
  4. 2.0 2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
  5. 1.6 2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
  6. 2.4 2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
  7. 2.9 2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
  8. 1.6 6 km SSW of Port Ludlow, Washington
  9. 2.4 40 km NE of Amanda Park, Washington
  10. 2.4 11 km S of Metchosin, Canada
  11. 1.7 2 km S of River Road, Washington
  12. 2.1 6 km NNW of Lofall, Washington
  13. 1.6 2 km W of Port Townsend, Washington
  14. 1.6 3 km W of Quilcene, Washington
  15. 1.6 2 km SW of Port Ludlow, 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 4.3 on 2023-10-09 — it released about 2,300 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.