QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

13 km SE of Sparks, Nevada

· 1.4 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Storey County 9 kmCarson City 36 kmLyon County 61 kmDouglas County 62 kmSierra County 78 kmAlpine County 95 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
1.4 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 2665 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 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 39.4620, -119.6284. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Storey County, NV 9 km (6 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 36 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 62 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 95 km (59 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

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

  1. 1.6 5 km SE of Carson City, Nevada
  2. 2.0 11km NNE of Tahoe Vista, CA
  3. 2.1 4 km NE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  4. 1.6 5 km NE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  5. 1.5 5 km NE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  6. 2.2 4 km ENE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  7. 1.5 6 km NNW of Incline Village, Nevada
  8. 1.6 4 km NE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  9. 1.5 14 km ESE of Fernley, Nevada
  10. 1.9 5 km ENE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  11. 2.1 5 km NE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  12. 1.5 4 km ENE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  13. 3.2 4 km NE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  14. 2.0 6 km ENE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  15. 2.5 5km NW of Cold Springs, NV

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.