Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
29 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
Yes. A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 29 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada, 69 km (43 mi) N of Reno, NV, at 10:47 pm PST on 21 December 2023 (06:47 UTC), 7.5 km deep.
69 km (43 mi) N of Reno, NV
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.5 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Washoe County, 63 km N
- Nearest mapped fault
- Dry Valley-Smoke Creek Ranch fault, 6 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 1056 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Cold Springs, NV
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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 8 km (5 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 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 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.6 6 km NNE of Doyle, California · 26 km WSW of this epicentre
- 5.3 4 km S of Doyle, California · 34 km SW 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 40.1707, -119.7886. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washoe County, NV | 63 km (39 mi) | N | earthquakes near Washoe County |
| Storey County, NV | 84 km (53 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Storey County |
| Plumas County, CA | 90 km (56 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Plumas County |
| Sierra County, CA | 91 km (57 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Sierra County |
| Lassen County, CA | 93 km (58 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Lassen County |
| Carson City, NV | 113 km (70 mi) | S | earthquakes near Carson City |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
53 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 3.4 25 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
- 2.5 20 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
- 1.7 31 km W of Gerlach, Nevada
- 3.6 21 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
- 3.3 17 km W of Empire, Nevada
- 3.5 21 km W of Empire, Nevada
- 3.8 21 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
- 2.2 22 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
- 2.5 23 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
- 1.7 8 km N of Sutcliffe, Nevada
- 3.4 21 km W of Empire, Nevada
- 1.5 13 km WSW of Nixon, Nevada
- 2.2 29 km W of Empire, Nevada
- 2.3 18 km SSW of Empire, Nevada
- 1.8 3 km W of Nixon, 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.