40 km NW of Indian Springs, Nevada

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 10 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 19 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 810,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 580,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 51× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 19 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 4.4 on 2024-08-14 — about 6,200 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 75 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.9 66 km ENE of Beatty, Nevada · 27 km NNW of this epicentre Jan 28, 1982
2. 5.9 64 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada · 25 km NNW of this epicentre Mar 1, 1984
3. 5.9 63 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada · 24 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 13, 1987
4. 5.9 66 km ENE of Beatty, Nevada · 27 km NNW of this epicentre Oct 13, 1988
5. 5.8 65 km SSW of Rachel, Nevada · 29 km NNW of this epicentre Feb 27, 1974

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 36.8593, -115.9490. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 3.4 47 km SE of Beatty, Nevada 06:59 UTC
2. 2.9 46 km SE of Beatty, Nevada 06:54 UTC
3. 2.5 46 km SE of Beatty, Nevada 23:36 UTC
4. 1.7 17 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 23:36 UTC
5. 1.6 16 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 04:37 UTC
6. 1.6 36 km WNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 12:47 UTC
7. 1.7 18 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 14:14 UTC
8. 1.6 21 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 23:05 UTC
9. 1.7 17 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 08:33 UTC
10. 2.0 18 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 08:57 UTC
11. 2.4 18 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 00:39 UTC
12. 2.0 18 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 05:54 UTC
13. 1.7 21 km NNE of Indian Springs, Nevada 23:55 UTC
14. 2.2 17 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 10:05 UTC
15. 3.2 18 km NNW of Indian Springs, Nevada 23:10 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 12:57 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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