Magnitude 4.1 earthquake shakes Las Vegas area

A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck the Las Vegas area, with hundreds of people reporting shaking across the valley and surrounding communities, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake struck at 1:48 p.m. on Thursday and was centered about 7 miles northeast of Summerlin South, Nevada, and about 16 miles west of Las Vegas. It struck at a depth of about 3.9 miles, according to the USGS.

More than 1,000 felt reports were submitted to the USGS within a short time of the earthquake. Most came from the Las Vegas Valley, though reports were also submitted from Pahrump, near Nevada’s border with California.

Most reports indicated light shaking, or level 4 on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. The USGS describes that level as shaking felt indoors by “many people,” with dishes, windows and doors disturbed, walls making cracking sounds and parked cars rocking noticeably.

“Oh wow! Big earthquake in Las Vegas. Definitely feeling this one,” Nate Haselton wrote on X.

Southern Nevada has a history of small to moderate earthquakes, though damaging events are less common around Las Vegas than in western Nevada and California. The Las Vegas Valley sits within the Basin and Range province, where the crust is being stretched and broken by faults, allowing occasional earthquakes to occur beneath or near populated areas.