Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.3ml
30 km W of Gabbs, Nevada
Yes. A magnitude 2.3 earthquake was recorded 30 km W of Gabbs, Nevada, at 12:18 am PDT on 3 July 2020 (07:18 UTC), 7.9 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 2.3 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.9 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Mineral County, 44 km SSW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Hot Springs fault, under 1 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 2276 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Hawthorne, NV
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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 minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 18 km (11 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 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 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 4.3 on 2016-03-21 — about 1,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 28 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.1 The 1954 Fairview Peak, Nevada Earthquake · 41 km NE of this epicentre
- 6.8 The 1932 Cedar Mountain, Nevada Earthquake · 43 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.9 21 km SSE of Fallon Station, Nevada · 47 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.8 48 km NNW of Gabbs, Nevada · 45 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.5 10 km SW of Gabbs, Nevada · 26 km ESE 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 38.8974, -118.2768. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mineral County, NV | 44 km (27 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Mineral County |
| Churchill County, NV | 71 km (44 mi) | N | earthquakes near Churchill County |
| Lyon County, NV | 81 km (50 mi) | W | earthquakes near Lyon County |
| Douglas County, NV | 115 km (72 mi) | W | earthquakes near Douglas County |
| Mono County, CA | 121 km (75 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Mono County |
| Storey County, NV | 123 km (77 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Storey County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
45 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.6 17 km ENE of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 1.5 22 km E of Schurz, Nevada
- 1.5 7 km N of Walker Lake, Nevada
- 2.6 19 km WSW of Gabbs, Nevada
- 1.5 20 km NNE of Walker Lake, Nevada
- 1.7 22 km NW of Mina, Nevada
- 3.0 23 km ENE of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 1.5 22 km NNW of Mina, Nevada
- 2.5 22 km NNW of Mina, Nevada
- 1.7 20 km NNW of Mina, Nevada
- 3.1 16 km NE of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 1.5 16 km N of Walker Lake, Nevada
- 2.1 23 km WNW of Gabbs, Nevada
- 2.0 23 km WNW of Gabbs, Nevada
- 1.5 8 km NNW of Walker Lake, 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.