QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

35km WNW of Truckee, CA

· 6.6 km deep · released about 9.3 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 20 kmNevada County 20 kmPlacer County 40 kmYuba County 67 kmPlumas County 68 kmEl Dorado County 69 kmCarson City 77 kmStorey County 91 kmButte County 92 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
6.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 20 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1854 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 9.3 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.3 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 39.4050, -120.5832. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 20 km (12 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 20 km (12 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Placer County, CA 40 km (25 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Yuba County, CA 67 km (42 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Yuba County
Plumas County, CA 68 km (43 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
El Dorado County, CA 69 km (43 mi) N of here earthquakes near El Dorado County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 9 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  2. 2.3 4km SSE of Truckee, CA
  3. 1.6 Northern California
  4. 1.5 5 km SSW of Cromberg, California
  5. 2.2 17km WSW of Loyalton, CA
  6. 2.4 6km NW of Johnsville, CA
  7. 1.6 5 km WNW of Plumas Eureka, California
  8. 2.0 5 km NNW of Plumas Eureka (historical), California
  9. 2.0 22km WNW of Truckee, CA
  10. 1.9 1 km NE of Carnelian Bay, California
  11. 1.8 4km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  12. 1.9 4km N of Dollar Point, CA
  13. 1.9 4km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  14. 2.3 11km NW of Verdi-Mogul, NV
  15. 2.7 21km WNW of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, 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 4.7 on 2021-05-07 — 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.