6km WSW of Cold Springs, 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 29 km (18 mi) from the epicentre. 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: Cold Springs 6 km, intensity III · Reno 24 km, intensity II · Sparks 28 km, intensity II · Spanish Springs 28 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 550 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 28,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 19,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.7× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 550 lb of TNT

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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.0 Near Reno, Nevada · 27 km SE of this epicentre Feb 18, 1914
2. 6.0 6 km WNW of Verdi, California · 12 km SSW of this epicentre Dec 29, 1948
3. 5.9 9 km NW of Truckee, California · 35 km SSW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1966
4. 5.6 6 km NNE of Doyle, California · 48 km N of this epicentre Dec 14, 1950
5. 5.6 5 km NE of Loyalton, California · 15 km WNW of this epicentre Apr 1, 1959

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 39.6548, -120.0400. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.3 7km NW of Verdi-Mogul, NV 04:49 UTC
2. 2.2 15km NNW of Incline Village-Crystal Bay, NV 22:42 UTC
3. 1.5 Northern California 23:13 UTC
4. 1.6 4 km E of Cold Springs, Nevada 13:13 UTC
5. 1.6 4 km E of Cold Springs, Nevada 22:54 UTC
6. 1.5 7 km N of Incline Village, Nevada 06:36 UTC
7. 1.5 16 km ENE of Doyle, California 10:48 UTC
8. 2.4 4 km E of Cold Springs, Nevada 20:29 UTC
9. 2.3 4 km E of Cold Springs, Nevada 15:25 UTC
10. 1.8 4 km E of Cold Springs, Nevada 06:57 UTC
11. 1.7 4 km E of Cold Springs, Nevada 06:05 UTC
12. 1.5 13 km SE of Sparks, Nevada 19:04 UTC
13. 1.8 8 km E of Floriston, California 11:26 UTC
14. 2.1 8 km E of Floriston, California 21:29 UTC
15. 1.7 8 km E of Floriston, California 14:42 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:21 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.