Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.5ml
Earthquake near Silver Springs, NV
No earthquake was likely felt in Silver Springs in the 24 hours to 2:43 pm PST (22:43 UTC). The last one was M 2.8, 20 km (12 mi) ESE, at 2:34 am PDT on 15 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Silver Springs
This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 16 km (10 mi) east of Silver Springs, NV, at 7:31 am PST on 8 December 2020 (15:31 UTC), less than 1 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 16 km E of Silver Springs, Nevada
72 km (45 mi) ESE of Reno, NV
- When
- 7:31 am PST on 8 December 2020 ()
- Where
- 16 km (10 mi) east of Silver Springs, NV · earthquakes near Silver Springs
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 0.6 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Storey County, 42 km W
- Nearest mapped fault
- Carson lineament, 8 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 2165 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Silver Springs, NV
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Silver Springs, NV. No account or email needed.
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. In Silver Springs, 16 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Fallon, Stagecoach, Fernley.
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 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.5 17 km ESE of Fallon Station, Nevada · 45 km E of this epicentre
- 6.4 Near Fernley, Nevada · 30 km WNW of this epicentre
- 6.2 The 1954 Rainbow Mountain, Nevada Earthquake · 41 km E of this epicentre
- 6.1 22 km SSE of Stagecoach, Nevada · 35 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.9 21 km SSE of Fallon Station, Nevada · 42 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 39.3990, -119.0385. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storey County, NV | 42 km (26 mi) | W | earthquakes near Storey County |
| Lyon County, NV | 44 km (27 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Lyon County |
| Carson City, NV | 67 km (42 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Carson City |
| Churchill County, NV | 68 km (42 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Churchill County |
| Douglas County, NV | 74 km (46 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Douglas County |
| Alpine County, CA | 109 km (67 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Alpine County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
53 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.9 13 km NNE of Virginia City, Nevada
- 1.5 Nevada
- 1.5 27 km SSE of Fallon Station, Nevada
- 1.5 20 km NNE of Schurz, Nevada
- 1.6 16 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
- 1.6 19 km WSW of Fallon, Nevada
- 1.6 26 km NNE of Schurz, Nevada
- 1.5 15 km WNW of Wadsworth, Nevada
- 1.6 10 km WSW of Wadsworth, Nevada
- 2.1 14 km NE of Virginia City, Nevada
- 2.0 11 km NE of Silver Springs, Nevada
- 1.9 6 km SE of Silver Springs, Nevada
- 1.6 Nevada
- 2.1 12 km WNW of Wadsworth, Nevada
- 1.5 5 km NNE of Schurz, 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.