QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8ml

7 km NE of Cold Springs, Nevada

· 9.7 km deep · released about 480 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Storey County 46 kmSierra County 55 kmCarson City 65 kmPlumas County 84 kmNevada County 88 kmDouglas County 95 kmLyon County 99 kmPlacer County 102 kmWashoe County 114 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 2.8 (ml)
Depth
9.7 km below the surface
Felt
7 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Storey County, 46 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 475 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 7 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 480 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 32,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 480 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 39.7247, -119.9096. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Storey County, NV 46 km (28 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Sierra County, CA 55 km (34 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Carson City, NV 65 km (40 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Plumas County, CA 84 km (52 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Nevada County, CA 88 km (55 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Douglas County, NV 95 km (59 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Douglas 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. 1.5 16 km NW of Stagecoach, Nevada
  2. 1.5 13 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  3. 2.5 18 km S of Loyalton, CA
  4. 1.7 8 km N of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  5. 2.2 15 km NNW of Incline Village-Crystal Bay, NV
  6. 2.2 10 km NNW of Truckee, CA
  7. 1.5 5 km ESE of Sparks, Nevada
  8. 1.5 13 km WSW of Nixon, Nevada
  9. 1.5 9 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  10. 1.5 19 km SE of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  11. 1.8 12 km E of Floriston, California
  12. 2.1 12 km E of Floriston, California
  13. 1.5 20 km ESE of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  14. 1.6 6 km N of Incline Village, Nevada
  15. 2.0 6 km N of Incline Village, 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 4.7 on 2021-05-07 — it released about 600 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.