QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

41 km WSW of Empire, Nevada

· 12 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Washoe County 33 kmLassen County 74 kmPlumas County 101 kmSierra County 115 kmStorey County 116 kmPershing 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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Washoe County, 33 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 900 days ago

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

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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. 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.

Where

Epicentre 40.4574, -119.8079. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Washoe County, NV 33 km (20 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Washoe County
Lassen County, CA 74 km (46 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Plumas County, CA 101 km (63 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Sierra County, CA 115 km (72 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Storey County, NV 116 km (72 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Pershing County, NV 118 km (74 mi) W of here earthquakes near Pershing County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 30 km W of Gerlach, Nevada
  2. 2.0 32 km W of Gerlach, Nevada
  3. 1.5 13 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  4. 2.0 26 km W of Gerlach, Nevada
  5. 1.7 32 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
  6. 1.5 32 km W of Gerlach, Nevada
  7. 2.0 27 km W of Gerlach, Nevada
  8. 3.1 18 km W of Empire, Nevada
  9. 3.0 18 km W of Empire, Nevada
  10. 1.6 30 km W of Gerlach, Nevada
  11. 2.1 17 km SE of Honey Lake, CA
  12. 2.5 22 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
  13. 2.4 20 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
  14. 2.2 26 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
  15. 2.7 25 km WSW of Gerlach, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.5 on 2016-08-04 — it released about 21,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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