21km SW of Smith Valley, 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 34 km (21 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: Topaz Ranch Estates 9 km, intensity III · Gardnerville Ranchos 31 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 800 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 420,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 19,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 13,000× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 800 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 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.1 4 km S of Carter Springs, Nevada · 20 km NNW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994
2. 5.5 California-Nevada border region · 47 km NE of this epicentre Jan 11, 1939
3. 5.2 23 km S of Walker, California · 41 km S of this epicentre Dec 19, 1919
4. 5.1 10 km SE of South Lake Tahoe, California · 39 km NW of this epicentre Dec 17, 1942
5. 5.1 19 km W of Bridgeport, California · 50 km S 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 38.6640, -119.5353. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.9 30km NE of Dardanelle, CA 23:35 UTC
2. 4.6 29km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 23:33 UTC
3. 2.4 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 23:29 UTC
4. 2.4 32km SE of Markleeville, CA 23:29 UTC
5. 2.6 30km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 23:28 UTC
6. 3.0 29km ESE of Markleeville, CA 23:25 UTC
7. 2.4 30km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 23:24 UTC
8. 2.9 30km SE of Markleeville, CA 23:22 UTC
9. 3.0 30km SE of Markleeville, CA 23:22 UTC
10. 3.0 32km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 23:21 UTC
11. 2.0 9 km ENE of Coleville, California 23:21 UTC
12. 2.6 33km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 23:19 UTC
13. 3.0 31km SE of Markleeville, CA 23:16 UTC
14. 2.6 31km SE of Markleeville, CA 23:16 UTC
15. 3.4 31km SE of Markleeville, CA 23:13 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 04:55 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.