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, 9 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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 9 km, intensity III · Gardnerville Ranchos 26 km, intensity II · South Lake Tahoe 44 km, intensity II · Yerington 49 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.4 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 70,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 3,100× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,200× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.4 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.1× 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 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — about 6,200 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.1 4 km S of Carter Springs, Nevada · 16 km NNW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994
2. 5.5 California-Nevada border region · 48 km NE of this epicentre Jan 11, 1939
3. 5.2 23 km S of Walker, California · 44 km S of this epicentre Dec 19, 1919
4. 5.1 10 km SE of South Lake Tahoe, California · 34 km NW of this epicentre Dec 17, 1942
5. 5.1 8 km ESE of Mesa Vista, California · 14 km NW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994

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 38.6893, -119.5843. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 11 km ESE of Smith, Nevada 21:00 UTC
2. 2.1 11 km ESE of Smith, Nevada 10:50 UTC
3. 2.6 11 km ESE of Smith, Nevada 01:51 UTC
4. 1.8 11 km ESE of Smith, Nevada 08:55 UTC
5. 1.7 11 km ESE of Smith, Nevada 02:21 UTC
6. 1.5 2 km SE of Coleville, California 19:22 UTC
7. 1.5 10 km ESE of Smith, Nevada 09:24 UTC
8. 1.9 11 km ESE of Smith, Nevada 08:55 UTC
9. 1.8 5 km WSW of Walker, California 04:03 UTC
10. 3.4 3 km ESE of Mesa Vista, CA 02:39 UTC
11. 2.3 3 km W of Markleeville, CA 09:16 UTC
12. 2.5 4 km NNW of Walker, CA 23:06 UTC
13. 1.5 3 km N of Carter Springs, Nevada 16:57 UTC
14. 2.4 5 km of Walker, CA 03:28 UTC
15. 2.3 5 km NNW of Walker, CA 11:43 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 18:06 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.