QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0ml

33km SSW of Smith Valley, NV

· 6.8 km deep · released about 990 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alpine County 30 kmDouglas County 45 kmLyon County 62 kmTuolumne County 69 kmCarson City 75 kmMono County 85 kmMineral County 93 kmEl Dorado County 96 kmCalaveras County 100 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 3.0 (ml)
Depth
6.8 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity I
Nearest
Alpine County, 30 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1836 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 990 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 340,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 15,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 990 lb of TNT

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 38.5097, -119.4825. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alpine County, CA 30 km (19 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 62 km (39 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Tuolumne County, CA 69 km (43 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Carson City, NV 75 km (47 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Mono County, CA 85 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. 2.2 2 km N of Walker, California
  2. 2.5 30km SE of Markleeville, CA
  3. 1.6 5 km W of Walker, California
  4. 1.9 5 km WSW of Walker, California
  5. 2.6 28km SE of Markleeville, CA
  6. 1.6 California-Nevada border region
  7. 2.6 32km SE of Markleeville, CA
  8. 2.4 30km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  9. 2.8 29km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  10. 2.2 1 km ENE of Coleville, California
  11. 1.9 3 km W of Walker, California
  12. 1.5 5 km SSW of Coleville, California
  13. 2.2 31km SE of Markleeville, CA
  14. 2.3 28km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  15. 2.2 32km SE of Markleeville, 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 31,000 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.