QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

61 km S of Kingston, Nevada

No: USGS classifies this as a explosion, not an earthquake. A magnitude 1.8 explosion was recorded 61 km S of Kingston, Nevada, at 4:32 pm PST on 27 December 2023 (00:32 UTC), 13 km deep.

· 13 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Nye County 94 kmEsmeralda County 109 kmMineral County 118 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Nye County, 94 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1052 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 5 km (3 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.

USGS catalogues this as explosion, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 63× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 4.2 on 2019-05-23 — about 4,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.2 37 km ESE of Gabbs, Nevada · 40 km WNW of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 28 km ESE of Gabbs, Nevada · 48 km WNW of this epicentre
  3. 5.0 49 km NNE of Tonopah, Nevada · 18 km S 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 38.6570, -117.0745. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Nye County, NV 94 km (58 mi) SE earthquakes near Nye County
Esmeralda County, NV 109 km (68 mi) SSW earthquakes near Esmeralda County
Mineral County, NV 118 km (73 mi) W earthquakes near Mineral County
Churchill County, NV 142 km (88 mi) NW earthquakes near Churchill County

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. 1.9 55 km S of Kingston, Nevada
  2. 1.7 57 km S of Kingston, Nevada
  3. 1.9 49 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  4. 2.0 58 km S of Kingston, Nevada
  5. 1.8 58 km S of Kingston, Nevada
  6. 1.9 53 km N of Tonopah, Nevada
  7. 1.6 53 km S of Kingston, Nevada
  8. 1.6 47 km S of Kingston, Nevada
  9. 1.6 60 km S of Kingston, Nevada
  10. 1.8 52 km S of Kingston, Nevada
  11. 1.9 60 km N of Tonopah, Nevada
  12. 1.7 61 km N of Tonopah, Nevada
  13. 2.5 28 km SE of Kingston, Nevada
  14. 1.7 52 km S of Kingston, Nevada
  15. 1.5 56 km S of Kingston, 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.