QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8ml

12 km NW of Virginia City, Nevada

· 7.0 km deep · released about 480 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Storey County 21 kmCarson City 26 kmDouglas County 55 kmLyon County 62 kmSierra County 69 kmAlpine County 85 kmNevada County 88 kmPlacer County 91 kmEl Dorado County 95 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
Magnitude
M 2.8 (ml)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
116 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Storey County, 21 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2875 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 116 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 480 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 32,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 480 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.

Where

Epicentre 39.3829, -119.7531. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Storey County, NV 21 km (13 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 26 km (16 mi) N of here earthquakes near Carson City
Douglas County, NV 55 km (34 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Lyon County, NV 62 km (39 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Sierra County, CA 69 km (43 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Alpine County, CA 85 km (53 mi) N of here earthquakes near Alpine 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. 2.0 13 km NW of Virginia City, Nevada
  2. 2.7 8 km NE of Incline Village, Nevada
  3. 1.5 13 km ESE of Sparks, Nevada
  4. 1.5 7 km N of Incline Village, Nevada
  5. 1.5 13 km SE of Sparks, Nevada
  6. 3.8 5km W of Tahoe Vista, CA
  7. 2.0 7 km N of Incline Village, Nevada
  8. 2.4 4km W of Tahoe Vista, CA
  9. 1.6 7 km SSE of Mogul, Nevada
  10. 2.5 1 km WNW of Carnelian Bay, California
  11. 1.5 1 km WNW of Carnelian Bay, California
  12. 1.6 13 km SE of Sparks, Nevada
  13. 3.5 5km NNW of Dollar Point, CA
  14. 2.7 17km NNW of Truckee, CA
  15. 1.6 1 km NW of Carnelian Bay, 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

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