37 km ENE of Schurz, 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 6 km (4 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 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.3 on 2024-08-23 — about 18,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 31 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.1 The 1954 Fairview Peak, Nevada Earthquake · 39 km ENE of this epicentre Dec 16, 1954
2. 6.5 17 km ESE of Fallon Station, Nevada · 42 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 24, 1954
3. 6.2 The 1954 Rainbow Mountain, Nevada Earthquake · 47 km NNW of this epicentre Jul 6, 1954
4. 5.9 21 km SSE of Fallon Station, Nevada · 31 km NW of this epicentre Jul 6, 1954
5. 5.8 48 km NNW of Gabbs, Nevada · 37 km NE of this epicentre Dec 16, 1954

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 39.0182, -118.3875. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 13 km NE of Walker Lake, Nevada 07:34 UTC
2. 1.8 24 km ENE of Schurz, Nevada 12:36 UTC
3. 1.5 26 km ESE of Fallon Station, Nevada 13:10 UTC
4. 1.8 25 km ESE of Fallon Station, Nevada 04:28 UTC
5. 1.5 15 km NNW of Walker Lake, Nevada 20:36 UTC
6. 1.6 25 km ESE of Fallon Station, Nevada 23:57 UTC
7. 2.0 12 km NE of Walker Lake, Nevada 03:23 UTC
8. 3.0 12 km NE of Walker Lake, Nevada 19:54 UTC
9. 1.6 8 km NE of Walker Lake, Nevada 10:02 UTC
10. 2.3 12 km NE of Walker Lake, Nevada 08:57 UTC
11. 2.3 12 km NE of Walker Lake, Nevada 11:13 UTC
12. 2.5 23 km NE of Hawthorne, Nevada 23:39 UTC
13. 1.6 21 km NW of Gabbs, Nevada 03:55 UTC
14. 1.7 20 km NW of Gabbs, Nevada 01:59 UTC
15. 1.7 34 km WNW of Gabbs, Nevada 08:53 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 03:45 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.