QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

13 km SE of Sparks, Nevada

· 4.0 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Storey County 9 kmCarson City 35 kmLyon County 61 kmDouglas County 61 kmSierra County 78 kmAlpine County 94 kmNevada County 100 kmPlacer County 104 kmEl Dorado County 108 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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
4.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Storey County, 9 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2894 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 7.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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 39.4572, -119.6277. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Storey County, NV 9 km (6 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 35 km (22 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Lyon County, NV 61 km (38 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Douglas County, NV 61 km (38 mi) N of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Sierra County, CA 78 km (48 mi) E of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Alpine County, CA 94 km (58 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

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

  1. 3.1 4km WNW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  2. 1.6 11 km SE of Fernley, Nevada
  3. 1.5 9 km NW of Carson City, Nevada
  4. 1.5 5 km NW of Carnelian Bay, California
  5. 2.5 8km WNW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  6. 2.1 5 km NW of Carnelian Bay, California
  7. 1.5 7 km E of Carson City, Nevada
  8. 1.5 11 km NNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  9. 1.6 7 km SE of Fernley, Nevada
  10. 1.7 5 km S of Floriston, California
  11. 1.5 1 km NE of Sun Valley, Nevada
  12. 1.8 1 km NE of Sun Valley, Nevada
  13. 1.7 0 km NNE of Sun Valley, Nevada
  14. 1.6 0 km N of Sun Valley, Nevada
  15. 1.7 0 km NNE of Sun Valley, 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.