QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9ml

11 km E of Sparks, Nevada

· 2.4 km deep · released about 21 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Storey County 12 kmCarson City 42 kmLyon County 66 kmDouglas County 68 kmSierra County 77 kmAlpine County 101 kmNevada County 102 kmPlacer County 107 kmEl Dorado County 113 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 1.9 (ml)
Depth
2.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Storey County, 12 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1838 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 21 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 710,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 45× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 21 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.

Where

Epicentre 39.5190, -119.6220. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Storey County, NV 12 km (8 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 42 km (26 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Lyon County, NV 66 km (41 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Douglas County, NV 68 km (42 mi) N of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Sierra County, CA 77 km (48 mi) E of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Alpine County, CA 101 km (63 mi) N of here earthquakes near Alpine County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 11km NW of Verdi-Mogul, NV
  2. 1.9 6 km NNW of Verdi, California
  3. 1.9 6 km SE of Silver Springs, Nevada
  4. 1.6 4 km SSE of Floriston, California
  5. 2.6 14km N of Kings Beach, CA
  6. 3.0 14km N of Kings Beach, CA
  7. 2.1 14km NNW of Incline Village-Crystal Bay, NV
  8. 2.1 12 km WNW of Wadsworth, Nevada
  9. 1.5 15 km WNW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  10. 1.5 5 km ENE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  11. 3.1 10km ESE of Loyalton, CA
  12. 1.8 11 km SW of Nixon, Nevada
  13. 1.8 14 km E of Fernley, Nevada
  14. 1.6 14 km E of Fernley, Nevada
  15. 2.1 4 km SSE of Cold Springs, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.5 on 2020-03-21 — it released about 7,900 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.