QuakeIndex

explosion · automatic estimate, may change

M 1.6ml

Earthquake near Dayton, NV

No earthquake was likely felt in Dayton in the 24 hours to 12:57 am PST (08:57 UTC). The last one was M 3.3, 49 km (30 mi) E, at 6:36 pm PDT on 4 August 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 1 felt report to USGS. Every earthquake near Dayton

No: USGS classifies this as a explosion, not an earthquake. A magnitude 1.6 explosion was recorded 6 km (4 mi) west of Dayton, NV, at 5:59 pm PDT on 14 May 2024 (00:59 UTC), less than 1 km deep.

USGS: 6 km W of Dayton, Nevada

12 km (7 mi) NE of Carson, NV · 38 km (24 mi) SSE of Reno, NV

5:59 pm PDT, May 14, 2024 · · 0.0 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Dayton Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Carson City 12 kmStorey County 25 kmDouglas County 37 kmLyon County 47 kmAlpine County 70 kmSierra County 83 kmEl Dorado County 90 kmPlacer County 93 kmNevada County 95 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
5:59 pm PDT on 14 May 2024 ()
Where
6 km (4 mi) west of Dayton, NV · earthquakes near Dayton
Magnitude
M 1.6 (ml)
Depth
0.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Carson City, 12 km SW
Nearest mapped fault
Carson City fault, 9 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 912 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 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Dayton, 6 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: Carson City, Indian Hills, Johnson Lane, Incline Village, Stagecoach.

USGS catalogues this as explosion, not an earthquake.

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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2020-03-21 — about 22,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 11 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 Near Fernley, Nevada · 41 km NE of this epicentre
  2. 6.1 22 km SSE of Stagecoach, Nevada · 31 km ESE of this epicentre
  3. 6.1 4 km S of Carter Springs, Nevada · 47 km S of this epicentre
  4. 6.0 Near Reno, Nevada · 31 km NNW of this epicentre
  5. 6.0 6 km WNW of Verdi, California · 50 km NW 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 39.2388, -119.6671. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Carson City, NV 12 km (7 mi) SW earthquakes near Carson City
Storey County, NV 25 km (16 mi) NNE earthquakes near Storey County
Douglas County, NV 37 km (23 mi) S earthquakes near Douglas County
Lyon County, NV 47 km (29 mi) ESE earthquakes near Lyon County
Alpine County, CA 70 km (43 mi) S earthquakes near Alpine County
Sierra County, CA 83 km (51 mi) WNW earthquakes near Sierra 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. 2.4 13 km NNE of Virginia City, Nevada
  2. 1.7 13 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  3. 1.6 13 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  4. 2.4 13 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  5. 3.3 13 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  6. 2.3 13 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  7. 1.5 13 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  8. 1.7 13 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  9. 1.6 13 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  10. 2.2 13 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  11. 1.6 2 km N of Carter Springs, Nevada
  12. 1.8 3 km N of Carter Springs, Nevada
  13. 1.8 12 km SE of Sparks, Nevada
  14. 1.6 9 km SSE of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  15. 2.1 3 km SW of Tahoe Vista, CA

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.