QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

Northern California

· 5.9 km deep · released about 480 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Plumas County 57 kmSierra County 70 kmLassen County 72 kmWashoe County 78 kmStorey County 98 kmNevada County 107 kmCarson City 117 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
5.9 km below the surface
Felt
6 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Plumas County, 57 km WSW
Nearest mapped fault
Warm Springs Valley fault, 2 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. 6 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 480 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 32,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 480 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 40.1532, -120.1905. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Plumas County, CA 57 km (35 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Sierra County, CA 70 km (44 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Lassen County, CA 72 km (45 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Washoe County, NV 78 km (49 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Washoe County
Storey County, NV 98 km (61 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Nevada County, CA 107 km (67 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

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

  1. 3.5 31 km NNE of Herlong, California
  2. 1.6 36 km NE of Herlong, California
  3. 2.2 36 km NE of Herlong, California
  4. 2.7 36 km NE of Herlong, California
  5. 2.4 37 km NE of Herlong, California
  6. 2.2 11 km E of Chilcoot-Vinton, California
  7. 1.5 36 km NE of Herlong, California
  8. 1.6 6 km NNE of Greenhorn, California
  9. 1.7 27 km N of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  10. 1.6 17 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  11. 3.1 15 km ESE of Doyle, California
  12. 1.9 15 km NNW of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  13. 2.5 3 km WNW of Patton Village, California
  14. 1.6 8 km N of Lake Davis, California
  15. 1.6 5 km W of Patton Village, 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 330 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.