QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

8 km NNE of Nehalem, Oregon

· -0.3 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Clatsop County 29 kmTillamook County 38 kmColumbia County 63 kmWashington County 65 kmWahkiakum County 66 kmYamhill County 74 kmPacific County 85 kmCowlitz County 102 kmPolk County 106 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
-0.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Clatsop County, 29 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 524 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 5.4 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 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 45.7910, -123.8678. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Clatsop County, OR 29 km (18 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Clatsop County
Tillamook County, OR 38 km (24 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Tillamook County
Columbia County, OR 63 km (39 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Columbia County
Washington County, OR 65 km (41 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Washington County
Wahkiakum County, WA 66 km (41 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Wahkiakum County
Yamhill County, OR 74 km (46 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Yamhill County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 21 km W of Forest Grove, Oregon
  2. 1.6 15 km ESE of Wheeler, Oregon
  3. 1.6 9 km E of Wheeler, Oregon
  4. 2.2 10 km W of Cape Meares, Oregon
  5. 1.6 2 km SW of Oceanside, Oregon
  6. 1.6 13 km E of Wheeler, Oregon
  7. 1.6 21 km W of Forest Grove, Oregon

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.