QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

2 km NNW of Topaz Lake, Nevada

· 5.3 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Douglas County 21 kmAlpine County 24 kmLyon County 46 kmCarson City 51 kmStorey County 80 kmTuolumne County 85 kmEl Dorado County 86 kmAmador County 101 kmMineral 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
5.3 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Douglas County, 21 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 173 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 63× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 38.7184, -119.5513. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Douglas County, NV 21 km (13 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Alpine County, CA 24 km (15 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Lyon County, NV 46 km (28 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Carson City, NV 51 km (32 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Storey County, NV 80 km (50 mi) S of here earthquakes near Storey County
Tuolumne County, CA 85 km (53 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 4 km SW of Walker, California
  2. 1.6 13 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  3. 2.0 14 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  4. 2.0 6 km SSW of Smith Valley, Nevada
  5. 1.7 3 km SE of East Valley, Nevada
  6. 2.7 3 km W of Walker, CA
  7. 1.9 15 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  8. 1.9 14 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  9. 2.3 15 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  10. 2.3 15 km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  11. 2.0 2 km SW of Walker, CA
  12. 1.6 5 km ENE of Johnson Lane, Nevada
  13. 1.8 6 km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  14. 2.2 18 km NE of Dardanelle, CA
  15. 1.9 20 km E of Markleeville, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — it released about 2,000,000 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.