QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.5ml

21 km NE of Austin, Nevada

Yes. A magnitude 2.5 earthquake was recorded 21 km NE of Austin, Nevada, at 8:46 pm PST on 21 February 2022 (04:46 UTC), less than 1 km deep.

· 0.0 km deep · released about 170 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lander County 34 kmEureka County 66 kmChurchill County 119 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 2.5 (ml)
Depth
0.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Lander County, 34 km NNW
Nearest mapped fault
Simpson Park Mountains fault, 5 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 1654 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 22 km (14 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 170 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 89,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 63,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 170 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 4.6 on 2019-09-10 — about 1,400 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

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 39.6179, -116.8827. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Lander County, NV 34 km (21 mi) NNW earthquakes near Lander County
Eureka County, NV 66 km (41 mi) NE earthquakes near Eureka County
Churchill County, NV 119 km (74 mi) W earthquakes near Churchill County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 15 km NE of Austin, Nevada
  2. 1.8 15 km NNE of Austin, Nevada
  3. 1.9 26 km ENE of Austin, Nevada
  4. 2.3 16 km NE of Austin, Nevada
  5. 2.7 20 km ENE of Austin, Nevada
  6. 2.5 20 km NE of Austin, Nevada
  7. 3.0 19 km NE of Austin, Nevada
  8. 3.5 33 km ESE of Austin, Nevada
  9. 1.5 29 km ESE of Austin, Nevada
  10. 2.5 29 km ESE of Austin, Nevada
  11. 1.8 34 km ESE of Austin, Nevada
  12. 4.1 35 km ESE of Austin, Nevada
  13. 2.8 36 km ESE of Austin, Nevada
  14. 1.5 36 km E of Austin, Nevada
  15. 2.0 37 km E of Austin, 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.