QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.8mw

5km W of Tahoe Vista, CA

· 2.1 km deep · released about 6.4 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Carson City 33 kmSierra County 52 kmStorey County 55 kmPlacer County 56 kmDouglas County 57 kmNevada County 57 kmEl Dorado County 62 kmAlpine County 74 kmLyon County 82 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 (mw)
Depth
2.1 km below the surface
Felt
482 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Carson City, 33 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1195 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 482 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.4 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 27,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 840× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 6.4 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 13× 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 39.2372, -120.1093. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Carson City, NV 33 km (20 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Sierra County, CA 52 km (32 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Storey County, NV 55 km (34 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Placer County, CA 56 km (35 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Douglas County, NV 57 km (35 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Nevada County, CA 57 km (36 mi) E 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. 1.5 0 km NNE of Sun Valley, Nevada
  2. 1.7 13 km SE of Sparks, Nevada
  3. 1.7 3 km S of Floriston, California
  4. 1.5 3 km S of Floriston, California
  5. 1.9 7 km SW of Virginia City, Nevada
  6. 3.7 8 km SW of Virginia City, Nevada
  7. 1.9 7 km SW of Virginia City, Nevada
  8. 2.4 8 km SW of Virginia City, Nevada
  9. 2.8 14km N of Kings Beach, CA
  10. 2.6 14km N of Tahoe Vista, CA
  11. 1.6 7 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  12. 2.3 10km NNW of Truckee, CA
  13. 1.5 13 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  14. 2.4 21km NNW of Truckee, CA
  15. 1.6 12 km SSE of Sierraville, 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.

On USGS

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