QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 1.7ml

56 km ESE of Lovelock, Nevada

Yes. A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 56 km ESE of Lovelock, Nevada, at 9:10 am PST on 25 December 2020 (17:10 UTC), 20 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.

· 20 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Churchill County 56 kmPershing County 71 kmLander County 71 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
20 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Churchill County, 56 km SW
Nearest mapped fault
Dixie Valley fault, 3 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 2148 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.1 on 2019-04-28 — about 4,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.9 The 1954 Dixie Valley, Nevada Earthquake · 31 km S of this epicentre
  2. 6.8 The 1915 Pleasant Valley, Nevada Earthquake · 44 km NE of this epicentre
  3. 5.1 Western Nevada · 12 km WNW 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 39.9475, -117.8783. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Churchill County, NV 56 km (35 mi) SW earthquakes near Churchill County
Pershing County, NV 71 km (44 mi) NW earthquakes near Pershing County
Lander County, NV 71 km (44 mi) E earthquakes near Lander County
Lyon County, NV 153 km (95 mi) SW earthquakes near Lyon County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 66 km ENE of Fallon Station, Nevada
  2. 1.8 35 km SSE of Humboldt, Nevada
  3. 2.0 47 km ENE of Fallon Station, Nevada
  4. 1.7 29 km ENE of Lovelock, Nevada
  5. 1.5 31 km ENE of Lovelock, Nevada
  6. 1.6 58 km ESE of Lovelock, Nevada
  7. 1.6 29 km ENE of Lovelock, Nevada
  8. 1.7 30 km ENE of Lovelock, Nevada
  9. 1.9 63 km ESE of Lovelock, Nevada
  10. 1.7 67 km SE of Lovelock, Nevada
  11. 1.7 51 km ESE of Lovelock, Nevada
  12. 3.1 64 km E of Lovelock, Nevada
  13. 2.4 48 km NW of Austin, Nevada
  14. 1.5 53 km ESE of Lovelock, Nevada
  15. 3.2 57 km ESE of Lovelock, 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.