QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

10km NNW of Loyalton, CA

· 8.7 km deep · released about 24 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 27 kmPlumas County 52 kmNevada County 65 kmStorey County 75 kmCarson City 82 kmPlacer County 85 kmYuba County 104 kmEl Dorado County 109 kmLassen County 111 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
8.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 27 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3133 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 24 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 640,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 450,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 40× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 24 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 39.7507, -120.2988. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 27 km (17 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Plumas County, CA 52 km (32 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Nevada County, CA 65 km (40 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Storey County, NV 75 km (47 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 82 km (51 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Placer County, CA 85 km (53 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Placer County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 2 km SE of Johnsville, California
  2. 1.6 2 km S of Plumas Eureka, California
  3. 1.6 4 km WSW of Sattley, California
  4. 1.5 4 km WSW of Sattley, California
  5. 1.6 5 km WSW of Sattley, California
  6. 1.6 5 km NW of Sierra City, California
  7. 1.5 3 km WNW of Plumas Eureka, California
  8. 2.2 8km WSW of Cromberg, CA
  9. 2.1 2km SW of Spring Garden, CA
  10. 1.6 7 km SSE of Mogul, Nevada
  11. 1.9 1km NW of Lake Davis, CA
  12. 1.7 2km N of Plumas Eureka, CA
  13. 1.6 20km S of Honey Lake, CA
  14. 2.0 20km NW of Truckee, CA
  15. 2.7 17km NNW of Truckee, 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 4.5 on 2016-08-04 — it released about 6,700 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.