QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1ml

47 km NNE of Valmy, Nevada

· 0.0 km deep · released about 1,300 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Humboldt County 110 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 3.1 (ml)
Depth
0.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Humboldt County, 110 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2847 days ago

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded 47 km NNE of Valmy, Nevada at 21:48 UTC on 2018-12-16. This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

USGS catalogues this as explosion, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.4× 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 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.8 Elko County, Nevada · 47 km NE of this epicentre
  2. 5.6 Elko County, Nevada · 47 km NE of this epicentre
  3. 5.0 Northcentral Nevada · 39 km NNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.0 Elko County, Nevada · 47 km NE 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 41.1658, -116.8464. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Humboldt County, NV 110 km (69 mi) WNW earthquakes near Humboldt 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. 1.6 50 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  2. 2.7 50 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  3. 1.9 54 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  4. 1.9 50 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  5. 3.1 52 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  6. 2.3 51 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  7. 2.0 Nevada
  8. 1.6 51 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  9. 1.9 39 km NW of Carlin, Nevada
  10. 1.7 49 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  11. 1.5 53 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  12. 1.9 53 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  13. 2.0 67 km NNW of Carlin, Nevada
  14. 1.9 49 km NE of Valmy, Nevada
  15. 1.6 52 km NW of Carlin, 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.