Earthquake near Hawthorne, 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 46 km (29 mi) from the epicentre. In Hawthorne, 22 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: Hawthorne 22 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,900 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 180,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,900× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,600× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,900 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2× 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 4.3 on 2016-03-21 — about 45 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 26 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.8 The 1932 Cedar Mountain, Nevada Earthquake · 40 km ENE of this epicentre Dec 21, 1932
2. 6.3 The 1934 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada Earthquake · 21 km S of this epicentre Jan 30, 1934
3. 5.6 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada (Foreshock) · 19 km S of this epicentre Jan 30, 1934
4. 5.5 10 km SW of Gabbs, Nevada · 49 km NE of this epicentre Dec 25, 1932
5. 5.5 18 km S of Gabbs, Nevada · 49 km ENE of this epicentre Feb 13, 1933

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 38.4705, -118.3779. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.3 3 km W of Walker Lake, Nevada 23:18 UTC
2. 4.3 3 km W of Walker Lake, Nevada 23:14 UTC
3. 2.6 3 km W of Walker Lake, Nevada 18:46 UTC
4. 2.6 12 km ENE of Hawthorne, Nevada 10:44 UTC
5. 2.2 29 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada 08:04 UTC
6. 1.7 28 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada 07:45 UTC
7. 1.9 29 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada 07:43 UTC
8. 1.9 California-Nevada border region 09:48 UTC
9. 1.9 19 km SSE of Hawthorne, Nevada 08:21 UTC
10. 1.8 3 km WNW of Walker Lake, Nevada 23:36 UTC
11. 1.6 3 km WNW of Walker Lake, Nevada 22:38 UTC
12. 1.8 3 km WNW of Walker Lake, Nevada 22:36 UTC
13. 1.6 23 km ESE of Hawthorne, Nevada 05:51 UTC
14. 2.8 30 km SSW of Hawthorne, Nevada 15:19 UTC
15. 2.4 30 km SSW of Hawthorne, Nevada 00:24 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 05:48 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.