Earthquake near Topaz Ranch Estates, NV

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 62 km (39 mi) from the epicentre. In Topaz Ranch Estates, 46 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Likely felt in: Topaz Ranch Estates 46 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.5 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 68,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 3,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,100× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.5 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.2× 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 5.6 on 2016-12-28 — about 1,500 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.8 3 km NE of Mono City, California · 36 km SSE of this epicentre Oct 24, 1990
2. 5.2 23 km S of Walker, California · 19 km WSW of this epicentre Dec 19, 1919
3. 5.2 31 km ENE of Mono City, California · 47 km ESE of this epicentre Jan 24, 1985
4. 5.1 23 km E of Bridgeport, California · 29 km ESE of this epicentre Dec 31, 1956
5. 5.1 19 km W of Bridgeport, California · 20 km SW of this epicentre Apr 13, 1962

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 38.3540, -119.2933. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.5 22km N of Bridgeport, CA 21:14 UTC
2. 2.0 4km SW of Bridgeport, CA 03:30 UTC
3. 1.8 14km SSW of Bridgeport, CA 04:49 UTC
4. 2.3 26 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada 08:18 UTC
5. 2.2 26 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada 08:17 UTC
6. 2.2 12km NNW of Bridgeport, CA 09:53 UTC
7. 2.4 12km NW of Bridgeport, CA 01:06 UTC
8. 1.5 14 km ENE of Mono City, California 23:38 UTC
9. 1.5 30 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada 01:21 UTC
10. 2.4 10km N of Lee Vining, CA 12:35 UTC
11. 1.6 16km SW of Bodie, CA 02:28 UTC
12. 1.7 27 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada 19:42 UTC
13. 1.6 29 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada 14:19 UTC
14. 1.8 29 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada 09:49 UTC
15. 1.6 12 km NNW of Bridgeport, California 14:00 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 04:26 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.