QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1ml

44 km NW of Austin, 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 Lander County 36 kmChurchill County 75 kmEureka County 102 kmPershing 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
Lander County, 36 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2626 days ago

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded 44 km NW of Austin, Nevada at 11:01 UTC on 2019-05-05. This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

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

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.1 on 2019-04-28 — about 32 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.9 The 1954 Dixie Valley, Nevada Earthquake · 39 km WSW 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 39.7787, -117.4412. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Lander County, NV 36 km (23 mi) ENE earthquakes near Lander County
Churchill County, NV 75 km (47 mi) WSW earthquakes near Churchill County
Eureka County, NV 102 km (63 mi) ENE earthquakes near Eureka County
Pershing County, NV 110 km (69 mi) NW earthquakes near Pershing 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. 3.3 67 km SE of Lovelock, Nevada
  2. 2.0 57 km WNW of Austin, Nevada
  3. 1.7 56 km WNW of Austin, Nevada
  4. 1.5 2 km NNW of Austin, Nevada
  5. 2.6 55 km ESE of Lovelock, Nevada
  6. 1.7 26 km W of Austin, Nevada
  7. 2.5 64 km ESE of Lovelock, Nevada
  8. 2.1 17 km NNE of Austin, Nevada
  9. 2.0 65 km E of Lovelock, Nevada
  10. 1.5 50 km W of Austin, Nevada
  11. 1.7 0 km ENE of Austin, Nevada
  12. 2.0 19 km NE of Austin, Nevada
  13. 3.0 37 km WNW of Kingston, Nevada
  14. 3.4 17 km NE of Austin, Nevada
  15. 1.5 46 km WNW of Austin, 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.