QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.8ml

2 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington

· 25 km deep · released about 7.6 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Island County 15 kmSan Juan County 44 kmSkagit County 63 kmSnohomish County 68 kmKitsap County 72 kmWhatcom County 84 kmJefferson County 87 kmClallam County 97 kmKing 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 3.8 (ml)
Depth
25 km below the surface
Felt
2030 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Island County, 15 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 8 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 2030 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 7.6 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 16× more

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 48.2888, -122.6065. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Island County, WA 15 km (9 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Island County
San Juan County, WA 44 km (27 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Juan County
Skagit County, WA 63 km (39 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Skagit County
Snohomish County, WA 68 km (42 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Snohomish County
Kitsap County, WA 72 km (45 mi) N of here earthquakes near Kitsap County
Whatcom County, WA 84 km (52 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Whatcom County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 6 km ENE of Bell Hill, Washington
  2. 1.6 3 km WSW of Lake Cavanaugh, Washington
  3. 2.6 2 km ENE of Mount Vernon, Washington
  4. 1.6 2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
  5. 1.6 8 km S of Port Hadlock-Irondale, Washington
  6. 1.6 2 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington
  7. 2.1 3 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington
  8. 1.7 3 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington
  9. 2.1 3 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
  10. 1.6 5 km N of Anacortes, Washington
  11. 2.1 3 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington
  12. 1.9 4 km E of Port Townsend, Washington
  13. 1.8 2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
  14. 1.9 3 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington
  15. 2.3 3 km ESE of Oak Harbor, 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 11 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.