QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

Nevada

Yes. A magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded in Nevada, 73 km (45 mi) NW of Las Vegas, NV, at 9:35 pm PDT on 17 September 2022 (04:35 UTC), 8.3 km deep.

73 km (45 mi) NW of Las Vegas, NV

· 8.3 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Clark County 92 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
8.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Clark County, 92 km ESE
Nearest mapped fault
Rock Valley fault, 13 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 1516 days ago

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 6 km (4 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 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 7,900 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 27 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 5.9 64 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada · 47 km NNW of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 63 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada · 47 km NNW of this epicentre
  3. 5.9 66 km ENE of Beatty, Nevada · 50 km NNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.8 64 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada · 47 km NNW of this epicentre
  5. 5.8 65 km ENE of Beatty, Nevada · 50 km NNW 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 36.6623, -115.8780. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Clark County, NV 92 km (57 mi) ESE earthquakes near Clark County
Lincoln County, NV 141 km (87 mi) NE earthquakes near Lincoln County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 30 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  2. 1.7 47 km ESE of Beatty, Nevada
  3. 1.8 41 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  4. 2.1 8 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  5. 2.0 9 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  6. 1.8 9 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  7. 1.6 28 km N of Pahrump, Nevada
  8. 1.5 10 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  9. 2.9 9 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  10. 2.9 9 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  11. 1.7 9 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  12. 2.9 9 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  13. 1.6 8 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  14. 4.4 8 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada
  15. 2.2 33 km NW of Indian 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

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