QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

1 km SE of Canyondam, California

· 3.7 km deep · released about 47 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Plumas County 28 kmButte County 72 kmLassen County 72 kmSierra County 80 kmTehama County 99 kmNevada County 99 kmYuba County 102 kmShasta County 106 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
3.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Plumas County, 28 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3327 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 47 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 320,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 230,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 20× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 47 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 40.1625, -121.0645. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Plumas County, CA 28 km (17 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Butte County, CA 72 km (45 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Butte County
Lassen County, CA 72 km (45 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Sierra County, CA 80 km (50 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Tehama County, CA 99 km (62 mi) E of here earthquakes near Tehama County
Nevada County, CA 99 km (62 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Nevada County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 11km NNE of Mineral, CA
  2. 1.6 12km NNE of Mineral, CA
  3. 1.8 3km SE of Chester, CA
  4. 3.4 3km SE of Chester, CA
  5. 1.6 4 km S of Canyondam, California
  6. 2.3 4km SSE of Canyondam, CA
  7. 2.3 5km ESE of Chester, CA
  8. 1.7 1 km NW of Paxton, California
  9. 1.8 1km NNW of Spring Garden, CA
  10. 2.0 2km NW of Paxton, CA
  11. 1.8 1km WSW of Canyondam, CA
  12. 2.1 13km SE of Mineral, CA
  13. 1.8 3km NNE of Spring Garden, CA
  14. 1.5 2 km ESE of Greenville, California
  15. 2.3 3km WNW of Taylorsville, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.