25km SSW 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 32 km (20 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 20 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 700 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 15,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 700 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

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — about 43,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.1 4 km S of Carter Springs, Nevada · 35 km NW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994
2. 5.2 23 km S of Walker, California · 30 km SSW of this epicentre Dec 19, 1919
3. 5.1 19 km W of Bridgeport, California · 38 km S of this epicentre Apr 13, 1962
4. 5.1 8 km ESE of Mesa Vista, California · 34 km NW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994
5. 5.0 Near Coleville, California · 7 km WNW of this epicentre Apr 5, 1915

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 38.5645, -119.4213. 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. 1.7 28km SE of Markleeville, CA 23:20 UTC
2. 1.6 29km SSW of Smith Valley, NV 11:56 UTC
3. 1.5 29km SE of Markleeville, CA 08:30 UTC
4. 1.6 26km SSW of Smith Valley, NV 07:01 UTC
5. 1.8 30km S of Smith Valley, NV 04:53 UTC
6. 2.1 31km SE of Markleeville, CA 04:38 UTC
7. 1.6 30km ESE of Markleeville, CA 00:10 UTC
8. 2.2 32km SE of Markleeville, CA 20:25 UTC
9. 2.1 30km SSW of Smith Valley, NV 18:15 UTC
10. 1.6 33km SE of Markleeville, CA 17:49 UTC
11. 1.6 29km ESE of Markleeville, CA 17:48 UTC
12. 2.3 28km ESE of Markleeville, CA 17:37 UTC
13. 3.3 28km SE of Markleeville, CA 12:33 UTC
14. 2.2 28km SE of Markleeville, CA 19:08 UTC
15. 2.1 28km SE of Markleeville, CA 17:30 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 22:30 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.