QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.0mw

5 km WNW of Patton Village, California

· 5.3 km deep · released about 15 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Plumas County 55 kmSierra County 69 kmLassen County 72 kmWashoe County 80 kmStorey County 99 kmNevada County 106 kmCarson City 118 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 4.0 (mw)
Depth
5.3 km below the surface
Felt
25 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Plumas County, 55 km WSW
Nearest mapped fault
Honey Lake fault, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3010 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 25 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 12,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 520× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 370× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.0 about 15 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 31× 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 40.1507, -120.2153. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Plumas County, CA 55 km (34 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Sierra County, CA 69 km (43 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Lassen County, CA 72 km (44 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Washoe County, NV 80 km (50 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Washoe County
Storey County, NV 99 km (61 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Nevada County, CA 106 km (66 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Nevada County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 36 km NE of Herlong, California
  2. 1.6 6 km NNE of Greenhorn, California
  3. 1.6 17 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  4. 3.1 15 km ESE of Doyle, California
  5. 1.9 15 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  6. 2.4 6 km NNE of Greenhorn, California
  7. 2.5 3 km WNW of Patton Village, California
  8. 1.6 8 km N of Lake Davis, California
  9. 1.6 5 km W of Patton Village, California
  10. 1.7 17 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  11. 1.8 5 km ESE of Doyle, California
  12. 1.6 2 km NNE of Cromberg, California
  13. 1.8 8 km NNE of Lake Davis, California
  14. 2.7 5 km WNW of Patton Village, California
  15. 2.1 4 km NE of Lake Davis, California

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 4.5 on 2016-08-04 — it released about 5.4 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.