QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

4 km NW of Spanish Springs, Nevada

· 0.5 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Storey County 33 kmCarson City 59 kmSierra County 68 kmLyon County 87 kmDouglas County 87 kmNevada County 98 kmPlumas County 99 kmPlacer County 109 kmWashoe County 117 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
0.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Storey County, 33 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3112 days ago

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 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 39.6802, -119.7395. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Storey County, NV 33 km (20 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 59 km (36 mi) N of here earthquakes near Carson City
Sierra County, CA 68 km (42 mi) E of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Lyon County, NV 87 km (54 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Douglas County, NV 87 km (54 mi) N of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Nevada County, CA 98 km (61 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 8 km W of Wadsworth, Nevada
  2. 1.7 3 km NNE of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  3. 1.5 14 km NW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  4. 1.7 10 km E of Sparks, Nevada
  5. 1.6 13 km SE of Sparks, Nevada
  6. 1.9 11 km W of Wadsworth, Nevada
  7. 1.7 9 km SSE of Fernley, Nevada
  8. 1.6 8 km NE of Incline Village, Nevada
  9. 2.3 8 km NE of Incline Village, Nevada
  10. 2.0 13 km NW of Virginia City, Nevada
  11. 2.7 8 km NE of Incline Village, Nevada
  12. 1.5 13 km ESE of Sparks, Nevada
  13. 1.5 7 km N of Incline Village, Nevada
  14. 1.5 13 km SE of Sparks, Nevada
  15. 2.4 8 km SSE of Fernley, Nevada

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.