Earthquake near Yerington, NV

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 45 km (28 mi) from the epicentre. In Yerington, 29 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: Yerington 29 km, intensity II · Hawthorne 41 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,700 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 200,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 8,800× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,200× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,700 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.8× more

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 5.7 on 2024-12-09 — about 6,500 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 5.5 California-Nevada border region · 32 km NW of this epicentre Jan 11, 1939
2. 5.5 13 km NW of Schurz, Nevada · 29 km N of this epicentre Jun 23, 1959
3. 5.4 13 km NNE of Yerington, Nevada · 39 km NNW of this epicentre Jun 23, 1959
4. 5.0 13 km NE of Hawthorne, Nevada · 46 km ESE of this epicentre Aug 18, 1942
5. 5.0 27 km ENE of Schurz, Nevada · 48 km ENE of this epicentre Jun 19, 1955

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 38.7728, -118.9759. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.3 17 km SSW of Hawthorne, Nevada 00:29 UTC
2. 1.5 13 km NE of Walker Lake, Nevada 07:34 UTC
3. 1.8 24 km ENE of Schurz, Nevada 12:36 UTC
4. 1.5 15 km NE of Yerington, Nevada 11:52 UTC
5. 1.5 15 km NNW of Walker Lake, Nevada 20:36 UTC
6. 2.0 12 km NE of Walker Lake, Nevada 03:23 UTC
7. 1.6 7 km ENE of Coleville, California 20:04 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. 2.8 22 km NNE of Yerington, Nevada 01:55 UTC
12. 1.8 25 km NNE of Yerington, Nevada 11:13 UTC
13. 2.3 12 km NE of Walker Lake, Nevada 11:13 UTC
14. 1.4 18 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada 21:03 UTC
15. 1.7 18 km NNE of Yerington, Nevada 05:29 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 12:52 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.