Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.8ml
40 km SW of Empire, Nevada
Yes. A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded 40 km SW of Empire, Nevada, 88 km (54 mi) N of Reno, NV, at 10:55 pm PST on 5 November 2018 (06:55 UTC), 3.8 km deep.
88 km (54 mi) N of Reno, NV
- When
- Magnitude
- M 2.8 (ml)
- Depth
- 3.8 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Washoe County, 45 km N
- Nearest mapped fault
- Terraced Hills fault, 9 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 2853 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Janesville, CA
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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 small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 27 km (17 mi) from the epicentre. 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 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 32,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
- 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.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2016-08-04 — about 330 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.6 6 km NNE of Doyle, California · 42 km SW of this epicentre
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 40.3268, -119.6852. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washoe County, NV | 45 km (28 mi) | N | earthquakes near Washoe County |
| Lassen County, CA | 90 km (56 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Lassen County |
| Storey County, NV | 100 km (62 mi) | S | earthquakes near Storey County |
| Plumas County, CA | 104 km (64 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Plumas County |
| Pershing County, NV | 109 km (68 mi) | E | earthquakes near Pershing County |
| Sierra County, CA | 110 km (68 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Sierra County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
51 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.8 9 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 1.8 9 km N of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 1.6 8 km N of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 1.7 9 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 2.3 15km SE of Honey Lake, CA
- 1.9 9 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 1.8 9 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 2.2 8 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 1.6 8 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 2.7 3 km SW of Gerlach, Nevada
- 1.6 27 km W of Gerlach, Nevada
- 1.6 26 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
- 2.3 26 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
- 1.6 10 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 1.8 28 km WSW of Gerlach, 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
- 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.