4.3 magnitude earthquake shakes Colorado, quakes up 277 percent so far in 2023
Two earthquakes took place in southern Colorado on Monday morning, just five minutes apart.
The first quake occurred near the small town of El Moro at about 8:13 a.m., reaching a 3.8 magnitude. The second earthquake took place near El Moro, but closer to the town of Hoehne at 8:18 a.m. This second earthquake was more powerful, with a magnitude of 4.3.
The 4.3 magnitude of the second quake tied an early March earthquake as the strongest Centennial State quake of 2023.
Four earthquakes have occurred in Colorado this month, with 132 occurring so far this year. This time last year, only 35 Colorado earthquakes had been recorded, with the most powerful one reaching a magnitude of 3.0. This is a year-over-year increase of 277 percent for this date range.
Nearly all of Colorado’s 100-plus most recent earthquakes have taken place near the state’s southern border, with the closest major city being Trinidad.
Earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 2.5 to 5.4 are generally felt by those in the area, but rarely cause damage. An estimated 500,000 earthquakes in this range take place worldwide each year.
According to EarthquakeTrack.com, the largest earthquake to take place in Colorado in recent decades was 5.4 magnitude in the Garfield County town of Parachute in 1973 (Note: Since publishing, a reader that’s involved with the Colorado Earthquake Mitigation Council has reached out to clarify that this was not an earthquake, but the Rio Blanco underground nuclear test). Another, more recent earthquake rivaled that power, measured at a magnitude of 5.3 in the area of southern Colorado’s Trinidad in 2011.
To put that in perspective, many of the world’s most powerful earthquakes have a magnitude above 8.0, sometimes even above 9.0. Compared to the infamous quakes in California, the most powerful earthquake to take place in the Golden State in the last 100 years was measured at a magnitude of 7.3 – with one hitting this threshold in 1952 and another in 1992. The most powerful one hit a magnitude of 7.9 in 1857.
Read more about earthquakes in Colorado here.
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