A 4.1 magnitude earthquake struck near Cowles on Sunday, March 1, (United States Geological Survey, Courtesy)
COWLES — A 4.1 magnitude earthquake struck south-central Nebraska during the late morning, early afternoon of Sunday, March 1.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the quake occurred near Cowles, a village of 30 south of Hastings, in Webster County. The epicenter was around three miles east of the community.
The tremor had a shallow depth of around two miles. Shaking was felt over a wide area but no significant damage or injuries were immediately reported. The quake was felt as far away from the epicenter as Lincoln, Omaha and parts of north central Kansas.
A smaller aftershock at 2.6 magnitude was reported at 2:30 p.m., with a depth of 3.5 miles
Later Sunday evening, a third quake, farther to the south, was reported around 8:45 p.m. at 2.6 magnitude.
The area has experienced several earthquakes in the past. The last quake was report on Sept. 18, 2023, which was also 2.6 magnitude and occurred around six miles east of Cowles.
“Earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over a much broader region than earthquakes of similar magnitude in the west. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area more than ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast,” per the USGS.
“Most earthquakes in North America east of the Rockies occur as faulting within bedrock, usually miles deep. Few earthquakes east of the Rockies, however, have been definitely linked to mapped geologic faults, in contrast to the situation at plate boundaries such as California’s San Andreas fault system, where scientists can commonly use geologic evidence to identify a fault that has produced a large earthquake and that is likely to produce large future earthquakes,” the USGS stated.
