Earthquake near Topaz Ranch Estates, NV

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Topaz Ranch Estates, 7 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Smith Valley, Smith.

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 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — about 5,600,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.1 4 km S of Carter Springs, Nevada · 23 km NW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994
2. 5.5 California-Nevada border region · 41 km NNE of this epicentre Jan 11, 1939
3. 5.2 23 km S of Walker, California · 44 km S of this epicentre Dec 19, 1919
4. 5.1 10 km SE of South Lake Tahoe, California · 44 km WNW of this epicentre Dec 17, 1942
5. 5.1 8 km ESE of Mesa Vista, California · 24 km WNW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994

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 38.6914, -119.4498. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.3 5 km NNW of Walker, CA 11:43 UTC
2. 2.1 3 km WNW of Walker, California 14:21 UTC
3. 1.5 5 km WSW of Walker, California 21:15 UTC
4. 1.7 2 km NNE of Carter Springs, Nevada 16:25 UTC
5. 1.5 2 km NNE of Carter Springs, Nevada 11:43 UTC
6. 1.7 3 km ENE of Topaz, California 06:43 UTC
7. 1.5 1 km WSW of Coleville, California 17:05 UTC
8. 2.2 2 km WSW of Coleville, California 19:56 UTC
9. 2.8 6 km NW of Walker, CA 19:55 UTC
10. 3.0 6 km NW of Walker, CA 19:33 UTC
11. 1.5 15 km E of Topaz, California 14:05 UTC
12. 2.8 5 km W of Walker, CA 16:08 UTC
13. 3.4 5 km W of Walker, CA 15:32 UTC
14. 1.6 14 km E of Topaz, California 13:30 UTC
15. 1.6 15 km E of Topaz, California 23:39 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 06:18 UTC. 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.