QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

5 km ENE of Sprague, Washington

· -0.5 km deep · released about 18 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lincoln County 48 kmSpokane County 51 kmWhitman County 54 kmAdams County 57 kmBenewah County 97 kmKootenai County 100 kmGarfield County 103 kmLatah County 105 kmColumbia County 114 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
-0.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Lincoln County, 48 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 117 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 18 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 840,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 53× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 18 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 47.3207, -117.9117. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Lincoln County, WA 48 km (30 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Lincoln County
Spokane County, WA 51 km (32 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Spokane County
Whitman County, WA 54 km (34 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Whitman County
Adams County, WA 57 km (35 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Adams County
Benewah County, ID 97 km (60 mi) W of here earthquakes near Benewah County
Kootenai County, ID 100 km (62 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kootenai County

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

Aftershocks so far

1 earthquake has been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.9 6 km ENE of Sprague, 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.