Nevada Earthquake Today

Where to check Nevada earthquakes

The Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno operates the seismic network covering most of the state and nearby parts of eastern California. Its earthquake locations flow into the USGS catalog, which you can see on the EQRadar live map or the USGS Latest Earthquakes map.

Because many Nevada earthquakes occur far from towns, the place names in listings may be small communities such as Mina, Tonopah or Wells. Zoom in on the map to see how far an event was from where you are.

How to read the listing

Nevada uses Pacific Time, 8 hours behind UTC in winter and 7 hours behind in summer. Most Nevada earthquakes are shallow, generally within the upper 15 kilometers or so of the crust, so even moderate ones can be felt clearly nearby.

Each event is first posted automatically. A seismologist then reviews it, and the Magnitude or location may change slightly; the review status tells you which version you are seeing. Nevada also has frequent earthquake sequences and swarms, in which many small quakes occur close together over days or weeks. Use the timeline or history view to see whether today's event is part of a longer sequence.

Why Nevada has so many earthquakes

Nevada lies in the Basin and Range Province, a region where the Earth's crust is being slowly stretched apart in an east-west direction. As it stretches, blocks of crust drop down along faults to form valleys, while neighboring blocks tilt up to form mountain ranges. This is why Nevada's map shows so many long, parallel ranges separated by flat basins. Many of the faults along the edges of those ranges are active, and they produce earthquakes when they slip.

Along the state's western side, near the California border, is the Walker Lane, a belt of faults that takes up a meaningful share of the sliding motion between the Pacific and North American plates. The Walker Lane runs past Reno, Carson City and Lake Tahoe and down through west-central Nevada, and it hosts much of the state's earthquake activity. The Reno and Carson City areas sit next to range-front faults along the Carson Range, such as the Genoa fault.

Nevada's notable earthquakes

Central and western Nevada had a remarkable series of large earthquakes in the first half of the 1900s, many of which left fresh fault scarps that are still visible today. More recently, the 2008 Wells earthquake in northeastern Nevada damaged old brick and stone buildings in the small town of Wells, and the 2020 Monte Cristo Range earthquake, in a remote area west of Tonopah, was the largest in Nevada in decades.

Hazards for Nevada communities

The biggest concern is strong shaking in towns and cities near active faults, particularly Reno, Sparks, Carson City and the Lake Tahoe area. Older unreinforced masonry buildings, like those damaged in Wells, are the most vulnerable. Shaking can also trigger rockfalls and landslides on steep slopes and roadcuts, and in places with shallow groundwater, such as some valley floors and areas near lakes and rivers, Liquefaction is possible.

Las Vegas has less earthquake activity than western Nevada, but it is built on a deep basin of sediments that can amplify shaking from nearby faults or from large earthquakes in California. Studies of Lake Tahoe also suggest that prehistoric earthquakes on faults beneath the lake generated large waves.

Alerts and safety

The ShakeAlert early warning system was built for California, Oregon and Washington; check its website for the current coverage area. Because warnings may be short or unavailable, the most important protection is knowing what to do: Drop, Cover and Hold On as soon as you feel shaking.

After shaking stops, check for injuries and hazards, be ready for aftershocks, and report what you felt to USGS Did You Feel It? Reports from remote parts of Nevada are especially useful, because there are fewer people there to describe the shaking. EQRadar's alerts can watch a saved place while the page is open; they do not send texts or push notifications.

Frequently asked questions