QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.8ml

28km SE of Markleeville, CA

· 5.2 km deep · released about 7.3 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alpine County 25 kmDouglas County 41 kmLyon County 61 kmTuolumne County 69 kmCarson City 70 kmMono County 90 kmEl Dorado County 91 kmMineral County 97 kmCalaveras County 97 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 3.8 (ml)
Depth
5.2 km below the surface
Felt
10 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Alpine County, 25 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1758 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 10 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 23,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 7.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 15× 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 38.5418, -119.5315. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alpine County, CA 25 km (15 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Douglas County, NV 41 km (25 mi) S of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Lyon County, NV 61 km (38 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Tuolumne County, CA 69 km (43 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Carson City, NV 70 km (44 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Mono County, CA 90 km (56 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. 1.8 28km S of Smith Valley, NV
  2. 1.8 28km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  3. 1.9 29km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  4. 2.3 29km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  5. 2.3 29km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  6. 1.5 California-Nevada border region
  7. 1.7 27km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  8. 2.0 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  9. 2.0 29km S of Smith Valley, NV
  10. 1.8 29km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  11. 1.6 24km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  12. 1.8 29km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  13. 2.1 29km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  14. 1.5 32km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  15. 1.7 29km SSW of Smith Valley, NV

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 2,100 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.