Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7ml
Earthquake near Hawthorne, NV
No earthquake was likely felt in Hawthorne in the 24 hours to 9:06 am PST (17:06 UTC). The last one was M 3.0, 23 km (14 mi) N, at 12:54 pm PDT on 14 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 1 felt report to USGS. Every earthquake near Hawthorne
This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 31 km (19 mi) south-southwest of Hawthorne, NV, at 4:00 am PDT on 5 August 2016 (11:00 UTC), 8.5 km deep.
USGS: California-Nevada border region
- When
- 4:00 am PDT on 5 August 2016 ()
- Where
- 31 km (19 mi) south-southwest of Hawthorne, NV · earthquakes near Hawthorne
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (ml)
- Depth
- 8.5 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Mono County, 40 km SSW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Wassuk Range fault, 10 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 3056 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Hawthorne, NV
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Hawthorne, NV. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Hawthorne, 31 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.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 11 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 in our catalogue was M 4.5 on 2016-07-07 — about 16,000 times the energy of this one.
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 38.2607, -118.7517. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mono County, CA | 40 km (25 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Mono County |
| Mineral County, NV | 41 km (25 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Mineral County |
| Lyon County, NV | 93 km (58 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Lyon County |
| Alpine County, CA | 100 km (62 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Alpine County |
| Douglas County, NV | 103 km (64 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Douglas County |
| Tuolumne County, CA | 109 km (68 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Tuolumne County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
60 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.3 30 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 2.5 27 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 2.2 28 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 2.4 29 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 2.2 27 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 2.5 26 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 3.7 28 km ENE of Bridgeport, California
- 2.5 29 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 3.2 28 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 3.8 27 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 5.6 28 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 5.6 29 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 1.5 25 km SSW of Mina, Nevada
- 3.3 3 km WNW of Walker Lake, Nevada
- 1.6 29 km ENE of Lee Vining, California
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
- 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.