QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 5.0ml

32km SE of Markleeville, CA

· 7.4 km deep · released about 530 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alpine County 28 kmDouglas County 45 kmLyon County 63 kmTuolumne County 68 kmCarson City 74 kmMono County 86 kmMineral County 94 kmEl Dorado County 95 kmCalaveras County 98 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 5.0 (ml)
Depth
7.4 km below the surface
Felt
96 reports · strongest reported intensity VI
Measured shaking
intensity VI (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Alpine County, 28 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 279 days ago

This was a moderate earthquake. Shaking at this size can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre. 96 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 530 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 6.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 320× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 14× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 10× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 5.0 about 530 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1,100× 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.

Where

Epicentre 38.5127, -119.5022. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alpine County, CA 28 km (18 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Douglas County, NV 45 km (28 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Lyon County, NV 63 km (39 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Tuolumne County, CA 68 km (42 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Carson City, NV 74 km (46 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Mono County, CA 86 km (53 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Mono County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 31km NW of Bridgeport, CA
  2. 1.9 32km SE of Markleeville, CA
  3. 2.0 34km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  4. 1.6 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  5. 2.7 30km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  6. 4.4 32km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  7. 1.9 29km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  8. 2.6 30km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  9. 2.6 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  10. 2.9 4km W of Walker, CA
  11. 2.9 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  12. 2.7 31km SE of Markleeville, CA
  13. 1.7 2 km SSE of Coleville, California
  14. 2.4 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  15. 3.9 31km NW of Bridgeport, CA

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — it released about 29 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.