QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

Earthquake near Kings Beach, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Kings Beach in the 24 hours to 5:43 am PST (13:43 UTC). The last one was M 1.7, 11 km (7 mi) SW, at 4:21 am PST on 9 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Kings Beach

This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 7 km (4 mi) north-northeast of Kings Beach, CA, at 11:11 pm PDT on 9 September 2025 (06:11 UTC), 5.0 km deep.

USGS: 7 km NNE of Kings Beach, CA

31 km (19 mi) SSW of Reno, NV · 27 km (17 mi) NW of Carson, NV

11:11 pm PDT, Sep 9, 2025 · · 5.0 km deep · released about 9.6 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Kings Beach Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Carson City 27 kmStorey County 44 kmSierra County 54 kmDouglas County 55 kmNevada County 66 kmPlacer County 67 kmEl Dorado County 73 kmLyon County 76 kmAlpine County 77 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
11:11 pm PDT on 9 September 2025 ()
Where
7 km (4 mi) north-northeast of Kings Beach, CA · earthquakes near Kings Beach
Magnitude
M 1.7 (md)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Carson City, 27 km SE
Nearest mapped fault
North Tahoe fault, under 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 428 days ago

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 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Kings Beach, 7 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: Tahoe Vista 8 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 9.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 99× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.6 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 4.7 on 2021-05-07 — about 30,000 times the energy of this one.

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

  1. 6.0 Near Reno, Nevada · 28 km NE of this epicentre
  2. 6.0 6 km WNW of Verdi, California · 29 km NNW of this epicentre
  3. 5.9 9 km NW of Truckee, California · 25 km WNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.6 5 km NE of Loyalton, California · 50 km NNW of this epicentre
  5. 5.3 11 km N of Soda Springs, California · 37 km WNW of this epicentre

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 39.2977, -120.0027. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Carson City, NV 27 km (17 mi) SE earthquakes near Carson City
Storey County, NV 44 km (27 mi) ENE earthquakes near Storey County
Sierra County, CA 54 km (34 mi) NW earthquakes near Sierra County
Douglas County, NV 55 km (34 mi) SE earthquakes near Douglas County
Nevada County, CA 66 km (41 mi) W earthquakes near Nevada County
Placer County, CA 67 km (42 mi) WSW earthquakes near Placer County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 4 km SW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  2. 2.0 4 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  3. 2.0 3 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  4. 3.3 9 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  5. 2.5 9 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  6. 2.5 9 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  7. 2.1 9 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  8. 1.8 10 km N of Kings Beach, CA
  9. 2.2 8 km SSE of South Lake Tahoe, CA
  10. 2.4 11 km N of Kings Beach, CA
  11. 1.7 10 km E of Sparks, Nevada
  12. 1.6 8 km E of Sparks, Nevada
  13. 1.9 10 km N of Kings Beach, CA
  14. 2.4 10 km N of Kings Beach, CA
  15. 2.1 11 km N of Kings Beach, CA

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.