Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 2.1ml
51 km ESE of Beatty, Nevada
Yes. A magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 51 km ESE of Beatty, Nevada, at 12:44 am PDT on 16 May 2021 (07:44 UTC), 6.1 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 2.1 (ml)
- Depth
- 6.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Inyo County, 103 km W
- Nearest mapped fault
- Rock Valley fault, 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 2007 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Beatty, NV
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Beatty, 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 16 km (10 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 43 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 2017-07-17 — about 1,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 23 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 5.9 66 km ENE of Beatty, Nevada · 50 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.9 64 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada · 48 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.9 63 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada · 47 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.9 66 km ENE of Beatty, Nevada · 50 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.8 64 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada · 48 km NNE 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 36.6752, -116.2630. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inyo County, CA | 103 km (64 mi) | W | earthquakes near Inyo County |
| Clark County, NV | 123 km (76 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Clark 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.
- 2.0 14 km SW of Indian Springs, Nevada
- 2.4 15 km SW of Indian Springs, Nevada
- 2.2 15 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada
- 1.6 50 km ESE of Beatty, Nevada
- 1.7 52 km W of Indian Springs, Nevada
- 2.0 21 km NE of Furnace Creek, California
- 1.6 30 km WNW of Indian Springs, Nevada
- 1.6 29 km WNW of Indian Springs, Nevada
- 2.6 51 km ESE of Beatty, Nevada
- 1.6 California-Nevada border region
- 1.5 47 km ESE of Beatty, Nevada
- 2.2 50 km ENE of Beatty, Nevada
- 2.3 33 km WNW of Indian Springs, Nevada
- 1.5 29 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
- 2.2 51 km ESE of Beatty, 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.