Earthquake near Gardnerville Ranchos, NV

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 17 km (11 mi) from the epicentre. In Gardnerville Ranchos, 28 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 14 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 37 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 410,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 290,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 26× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 37 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 810,000 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 · 18 km N of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994
2. 5.2 23 km S of Walker, California · 41 km SSE of this epicentre Dec 19, 1919
3. 5.1 10 km SE of South Lake Tahoe, California · 34 km NW of this epicentre Dec 17, 1942
4. 5.1 8 km ESE of Mesa Vista, California · 15 km NNW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994
5. 5.0 Near Coleville, California · 14 km SE 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 38.6557, -119.6227. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.2 15km WNW of Bridgeport, CA 20:20 UTC
2. 2.2 7km SSW of Markleeville, CA 23:38 UTC
3. 2.3 7km E of Walker, CA 23:57 UTC
4. 1.8 7km E of Walker, CA 23:56 UTC
5. 1.6 13 km E of Walker, California 18:37 UTC
6. 1.7 9km WNW of Walker, CA 14:20 UTC
7. 2.2 5km WNW of Walker, CA 01:13 UTC
8. 1.5 5 km E of Walker, California 01:15 UTC
9. 2.2 7km SW of Walker, CA 07:47 UTC
10. 1.5 4 km NNE of Walker, California 06:24 UTC
11. 1.6 1 km NNE of Walker, California 13:39 UTC
12. 2.3 6km WSW of Walker, CA 10:56 UTC
13. 2.4 5km W of Walker, CA 10:15 UTC
14. 2.4 4km WNW of Walker, CA 06:01 UTC
15. 1.5 2 km NNW of Walker, California 23:02 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:31 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.