Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.5ml
28 km NW of Gabbs, Nevada
Yes. A magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 28 km NW of Gabbs, Nevada, at 1:25 pm PDT on 11 October 2020 (20:25 UTC), 1.6 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 1.6 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Churchill County, 55 km N
- Nearest mapped fault
- Hot Springs fault, under 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2223 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 10 km (6 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 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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
No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 25 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.1 The 1954 Fairview Peak, Nevada Earthquake · 22 km NE of this epicentre
- 6.5 17 km ESE of Fallon Station, Nevada · 48 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.9 21 km SSE of Fallon Station, Nevada · 44 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.8 48 km NNW of Gabbs, Nevada · 26 km N of this epicentre
- 5.7 47 km E of Fallon Station, Nevada · 40 km N 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 39.0470, -118.1600. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Churchill County, NV | 55 km (34 mi) | N | earthquakes near Churchill County |
| Mineral County, NV | 63 km (39 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Mineral County |
| Lyon County, NV | 90 km (56 mi) | W | earthquakes near Lyon County |
| Storey County, NV | 125 km (78 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Storey County |
| Lander County, NV | 135 km (84 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Lander 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.
- 1.6 Nevada
- 1.5 41 km E of Fallon Station, Nevada
- 1.5 30 km NW of Gabbs, Nevada
- 1.9 16 km WNW of Gabbs, Nevada
- 1.5 18 km NE of Walker Lake, Nevada
- 1.7 38 km E of Schurz, Nevada
- 1.6 California-Nevada border region
- 2.6 23 km WNW of Gabbs, Nevada
- 2.2 23 km WNW of Gabbs, Nevada
- 1.6 23 km WNW of Gabbs, Nevada
- 2.7 22 km WNW of Gabbs, Nevada
- 1.8 25 km NNE of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 1.6 34 km ENE of Schurz, Nevada
- 1.5 39 km ENE of Schurz, Nevada
- 2.6 31 km NW of Gabbs, 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.