A notification about a magnitude-5.9 earthquake in western Nevada Thursday morning was a false alert, the USGS said.

The quake alert generated by the ShakeAlert early warning system indicated an earthquake near Dayton, Nevada, about 20 miles northeast of Carson City, Nevada. The alert appeared on the USGS earthquakes map, but was deleted soon after.

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"The ShakeAlert EEW system released an incorrect alert for a magnitude 5.9 earthquake near Reno and Carson City, Nevada," the USGS said . "The event did not occur, and has been deleted from USGS websites and data feeds. The USGS is working to understand the cause of the false alert."

False alerts can be triggered by several factors , the agency said.

For example, l

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