Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
Earthquake near Cold Springs, NV
No earthquake was likely felt in Cold Springs in the 24 hours to 1:41 pm PST (21:41 UTC). The last one was M 2.8, 18 km (11 mi) ESE, at 10:33 pm PDT on 22 September 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 242 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Cold Springs
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 41 km (25 mi) north of Cold Springs, NV, at 1:11 am PST on 20 February 2022 (09:11 UTC), 4.4 km deep.
USGS: 10 km ENE of Doyle, California
57 km (35 mi) NNW of Reno, NV
- When
- 1:11 am PST on 20 February 2022 ()
- Where
- 41 km (25 mi) north of Cold Springs, NV · earthquakes near Cold Springs
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 4.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Sierra County, 70 km SW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Warm Springs Valley fault, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1724 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Cold Springs, NV
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Cold 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 Cold Springs, 41 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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 7.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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 4.5 on 2016-08-04 — about 21,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.6 6 km NNE of Doyle, California · 8 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.6 5 km NE of Loyalton, California · 41 km SSW of this epicentre
- 5.3 4 km S of Doyle, California · 13 km WSW 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 40.0491, -119.9883. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra County, CA | 70 km (43 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Sierra County |
| Plumas County, CA | 71 km (44 mi) | W | earthquakes near Plumas County |
| Storey County, NV | 79 km (49 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Storey County |
| Washoe County, NV | 81 km (50 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Washoe County |
| Lassen County, CA | 91 km (57 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Lassen County |
| Carson City, NV | 102 km (63 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Carson City |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
47 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.7 28 km E of Herlong, California
- 2.1 28 km NW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 1.8 34 km NE of Herlong, California
- 1.6 6 km NNW of Beckwourth, California
- 1.7 19 km NW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 1.6 27 km ENE of Herlong, California
- 1.5 9 km SSE of Beckwourth, California
- 1.8 Nevada
- 1.5 9 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 2.2 4km NE of Lake Davis, CA
- 1.5 14 km NW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 3.1 10km ESE of Loyalton, CA
- 1.9 29 km NNE of Herlong, California
- 2.1 4 km SSE of Cold Springs, Nevada
- 1.5 4 km SE 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.
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.