Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.8ml
31 km NNW of Benton, California
Yes. A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 31 km NNW of Benton, California, at 12:02 am PST on 30 January 2021 (08:02 UTC), less than 1 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (ml)
- Depth
- 0.3 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Mono County, 25 km SW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Huntoon Valley fault system, 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 2113 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Hawthorne, NV
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Hawthorne, 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 14 km (9 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 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 63× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 5.6 on 2016-12-28 — about 500,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 24 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.3 The 1934 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada Earthquake · 36 km NE of this epicentre
- 6.0 7 km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 48 km SSW of this epicentre
- 5.9 8 km NNE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 45 km SSW of this epicentre
- 5.8 3 km NE of Mono City, California · 40 km W of this epicentre
- 5.6 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada (Foreshock) · 35 km NE 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 38.0638, -118.6637. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mono County, CA | 25 km (15 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Mono County |
| Mineral County, NV | 55 km (34 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Mineral County |
| Esmeralda County, NV | 96 km (60 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Esmeralda County |
| Tuolumne County, CA | 114 km (71 mi) | W | earthquakes near Tuolumne County |
| Lyon County, NV | 116 km (72 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Lyon County |
| Alpine County, CA | 117 km (73 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Alpine County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
57 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.5 40km NNE of Toms Place, CA
- 1.5 19km SE of Bodie, CA
- 1.5 32 km SSW of Mina, Nevada
- 1.9 33 km N of Dyer, Nevada
- 2.0 32 km N of Dyer, Nevada
- 2.2 35 km N of Benton, California
- 2.2 41km NNE of Toms Place, CA
- 1.6 34 km SSW of Mina, Nevada
- 1.9 35 km NNE of Benton, California
- 2.5 40km NNE of Toms Place, CA
- 1.5 26km E of Lee Vining, CA
- 1.6 40km NNE of Toms Place, CA
- 1.9 40km NNE of Toms Place, CA
- 3.2 17km SE of Bodie, CA
- 1.5 31km SE of Bodie, CA
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.