Earthquake near Indian Hills, NV

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 46 km (29 mi) from the epicentre. In Indian Hills, 6 km away, the estimate is intensity III (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: Carson City 6 km, intensity III · Gardnerville Ranchos 25 km, intensity II · South Lake Tahoe 30 km, intensity II · Tahoe Vista 31 km, intensity II · Sunnyside-Tahoe City 37 km, intensity II · Truckee 46 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,900 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 180,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,900× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,600× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,900 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2× more

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 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.1 22 km SSE of Stagecoach, Nevada · 36 km E of this epicentre Jun 25, 1933
2. 6.1 4 km S of Carter Springs, Nevada · 34 km SSE of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994
3. 6.0 Near Reno, Nevada · 43 km N of this epicentre Feb 18, 1914
4. 5.5 California-Nevada border region · 48 km ESE of this epicentre Jan 11, 1939
5. 5.1 10 km SE of South Lake Tahoe, California · 31 km SSW of this epicentre Dec 17, 1942

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 39.1155, -119.7303. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.2 3 km NE of Mesa Vista, California 21:00 UTC
2. 1.5 5 km S of Floriston, California 09:19 UTC
3. 2.7 5 km SSE of Floriston, California 08:13 UTC
4. 1.6 5 km N of Truckee, California 10:35 UTC
5. 1.5 5 km ENE of Indian Hills, Nevada 20:14 UTC
6. 2.8 5 km ENE of Indian Hills, Nevada 02:11 UTC
7. 2.5 9km SE of Dollar Point, CA 10:23 UTC
8. 2.1 12 km NNW of Virginia City, Nevada 15:20 UTC
9. 1.9 5 km NNE of Johnson Lane, Nevada 14:52 UTC
10. 2.1 4 km NNE of Johnson Lane, Nevada 14:19 UTC
11. 3.2 11 km SSW of Dayton, Nevada 07:00 UTC
12. 1.5 10 km SSW of Dayton, Nevada 00:54 UTC
13. 1.9 11 km NNW of Virginia City, Nevada 19:41 UTC
14. 3.1 4km WNW of Tahoe Vista, CA 13:54 UTC
15. 1.5 9 km NW of Carson City, Nevada 09:58 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 18:26 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.