QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

6 km SSW of Smith Valley, Nevada

· 5.9 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Douglas County 28 kmLyon County 35 kmAlpine County 39 kmCarson City 56 kmStorey County 79 kmMineral County 87 kmTuolumne County 94 kmEl Dorado County 101 kmMono County 101 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
5.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Douglas County, 28 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 544 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 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.

Where

Epicentre 38.7353, -119.3768. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Douglas County, NV 28 km (17 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Lyon County, NV 35 km (22 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Alpine County, CA 39 km (24 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Carson City, NV 56 km (35 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Storey County, NV 79 km (49 mi) S of here earthquakes near Storey County
Mineral County, NV 87 km (54 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Mineral 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. 1.5 4 km SSW of Markleeville, California
  2. 2.3 4 km SSW of Markleeville, CA
  3. 2.5 3 km SSW of Markleeville, CA
  4. 1.6 17 km S of Schurz, Nevada
  5. 1.5 16 km NNW of Walker Lake, Nevada
  6. 2.7 17 km S of Schurz, Nevada
  7. 1.8 15 km ENE of Yerington, Nevada
  8. 1.5 3 km SSW of Markleeville, California
  9. 1.6 16 km NNW of Walker Lake, Nevada
  10. 2.3 14 km ENE of Yerington, Nevada
  11. 2.4 2 km WNW of Walker, CA
  12. 2.0 3 km NNW of Walker, CA
  13. 1.5 14 km NE of Yerington, Nevada
  14. 2.6 15 km NE of Yerington, Nevada
  15. 1.7 15 km NE of Yerington, 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 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — it released about 5,600,000 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.