QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

5 km S of Milton-Freewater, Oregon

· -0.4 km deep · released about 51 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Walla Walla County 42 kmUmatilla County 43 kmColumbia County 58 kmUnion County 71 kmFranklin County 83 kmGarfield County 89 kmAsotin County 95 kmBenton County 96 kmWallowa County 98 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 (md)
Depth
-0.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Walla Walla County, 42 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 97 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 51 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 5.8 300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 210,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 51 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 45.8830, -118.3742. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Walla Walla County, WA 42 km (26 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Walla Walla County
Umatilla County, OR 43 km (27 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Umatilla County
Columbia County, WA 58 km (36 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Columbia County
Union County, OR 71 km (44 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Union County
Franklin County, WA 83 km (52 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Franklin County
Garfield County, WA 89 km (55 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Garfield 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. 1.8 3 km W of Pendleton, 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.