Mysterious Missouri Quake Just Shook Area South of St. Louis

Never underestimate the New Madrid Fault in southern Missouri being able to surprise you. It certainly wasn't major, but the location of a tremor felt Tuesday south of the St. Louis region sure was odd.

Even as an earthquake nerd, I am used to seeing the occasional blip on the USGS quake page near the boot heel of Missouri, but the quake I noticed today wasn't in the typical Missouri place. I checked and this has been confirmed by a seismologist from the USGS, so I'm not dreaming. It's a minor quake that struck just to the east of De Soto, Missouri.

If you look at it on Google's Street View, it's an off-the-beaten path field just off of this small road.

Based on the data shared by the USGS, this tiny 1.7 magnitude quake happened at around 4:37pm Monday afternoon, June 23, 2025.

While this is likely just a one-off strange quake that doesn't foretell anything major to follow, it's odd locations like this in Missouri that I find quakes most interesting. The St. Louis area isn't immune from quakes and occasionally will feel mild tremors, but don't recall ever seeing one near De Soto where my cousins grew up. Back to my original point. Never underestimate the New Madrid Fault's ability to be weird.