Earthquake near Battle Mountain, NV

USGS: 6 km SE of Crescent Valley, Nevada

2:59 pm PDT, Apr 20, 2017 · 2017-04-20 21:59 UTC · 0.0 km deep · released about 60 lb of TNT

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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: 2:59 pm PDT on 20 April 2017 (2017-04-20 21:59 UTC)
Where: 46 km (28 mi) SE of Battle Mountain, NV · earthquakes near Battle Mountain
Magnitude: M 2.2 (ml)
Depth: 0.0 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Eureka County, 49 km SSE
Nearest mapped fault: Crescent Valley faults, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status: Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS 3452 days ago · we first saw it 3452 days ago

A magnitude 2.2 earthquake was recorded 46 km (28 mi) SE of Battle Mountain, NV, at 2:59 pm PDT on 20 April 2017 (21:59 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

USGS catalogues this as explosion, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 60 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 250,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 16× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.2 about 60 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

5.1 21 km NNE of Crescent Valley, Nevada · 25 km N of this epicentre Sep 18, 1945

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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 40.3725, -116.5238. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction from the epicentre
Eureka County, NV	49 km (30 mi)	SSE	earthquakes near Eureka County
Lander County, NV	69 km (43 mi)	SW	earthquakes near Lander County
Elko County, NV	131 km (81 mi)	NE	earthquakes near Elko County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

2.0 14 km E of Crescent Valley, Nevada 09:01 UTC
1.8 19 km N of Crescent Valley, Nevada 12:51 UTC
2.4 18 km SSW of Crescent Valley, Nevada 21:56 UTC
2.3 30 km S of Crescent Valley, Nevada 21:47 UTC
2.5 32 km SSW of Crescent Valley, Nevada 21:33 UTC
1.6 32 km SSW of Battle Mountain, Nevada 13:19 UTC
1.9 22 km W of Carlin, Nevada 03:01 UTC
1.6 24 km N of Crescent Valley, Nevada 23:03 UTC
3.4 24 km S of Carlin, Nevada 23:13 UTC
2.1 19 km W of Carlin, Nevada 20:18 UTC
2.4 15 km ENE of Crescent Valley, Nevada 06:39 UTC
1.9 11 km SSW of Carlin, Nevada 13:43 UTC
3.5 21 km SW of Carlin, Nevada 12:56 UTC
1.6 9 km SSW of Carlin, Nevada 21:33 UTC
2.8 25 km SW of Carlin, Nevada 16:07 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 02:08 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.