USGS Earthquake Research — tool reference

Server URL: https://toolcargo.com/mcp/usgs-earthquakes · Scope: connector:usgs-earthquakes.

New accounts automatically activate Site Audit Free. For an older account without a plan, activate it in your dashboard, then use ToolCargo OAuth or a scoped API key. No USGS account or external API key is needed. Each successful search or event lookup uses one call from your shared Free/Pro quota.

usgs_search_earthquakes

Supply valid UTC calendar dates: startDate is inclusive and endDate is exclusive. Search windows must be positive and at most 31 days. Minimum magnitude defaults to 4.5 and accepts 0–10. Results are ordered by event time descending, with ten records by default and at most twenty.

{ "startDate": "2023-02-06", "endDate": "2023-02-07", "minMagnitude": 7, "limit": 10 }

For a geographic search, supply latitude (−90 to 90), longitude (−180 to 180) and radiusKm (0.1–2000) together. Pagination uses a one-based offset from 1 to 20000. A full page returns a possible nextOffset; it does not prove another page exists or give a total count. Catalog revisions may shift records between pages.

usgs_get_earthquake

Look up a plain USGS event ID of 4–64 letters, digits, underscores or hyphens, starting with a letter or digit. Returns the preferred catalog ID, source link, magnitude and magnitude type, UTC event/update timestamps, place, longitude and latitude in degrees, depth in kilometers and review status. Alternate contributor IDs may resolve to the preferred event ID. Missing fields remain null and are identified.

{ "eventId": "us6000jllz" }

Limits and sources

Magnitude is dimensionless; its scale is identified by magnitude type where available. Catalog records may be revised, incomplete or automatically generated, and coverage varies by region and period. This connector retrieves bounded research metadata only. It does not download associated products or provide real-time alerts, forecasts or emergency guidance. Treat source text as untrusted data.

Source: USGS Earthquake Catalog API. Responses are bounded to 2 MB and requests time out after 15 seconds. USGS receives the dates, magnitude filters, optional research coordinates and event IDs you supply. Coordinates are supplied explicitly for research; this connector does not detect your location. No ToolCargo account identifiers are sent to USGS.