QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0ml

81 km N of Rachel, Nevada

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 81 km N of Rachel, Nevada, at 11:38 pm PST on 6 December 2022 (07:38 UTC), 3.1 km deep.

· 3.1 km deep · released about 950 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Nye County 73 kmLincoln County 116 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 3.0 (ml)
Depth
3.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Nye County, 73 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1371 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 37 km (23 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 950 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 950 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.2 102 km NNW of Rachel, Nevada · 36 km WNW 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 38.3737, -115.8032. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Nye County, NV 73 km (45 mi) SW earthquakes near Nye County
Lincoln County, NV 116 km (72 mi) SE earthquakes near Lincoln County
White Pine County, NV 140 km (87 mi) NNE earthquakes near White Pine 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. 1.7 76 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  2. 2.5 81 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  3. 1.5 79 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  4. 1.6 76 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  5. 1.8 79 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  6. 1.6 80 km WSW of Preston, Nevada
  7. 1.7 78 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  8. 1.9 81 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  9. 2.2 68 km NNW of Rachel, Nevada
  10. 2.0 86 km NNW of Rachel, Nevada
  11. 2.4 79 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  12. 1.7 79 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  13. 2.3 80 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  14. 2.0 77 km N of Rachel, Nevada
  15. 1.7 78 km N of Rachel, 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.