QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

8km N of Truckee, CA

· 12 km deep · released about 46 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 36 kmCarson City 45 kmNevada County 53 kmStorey County 56 kmPlacer County 60 kmDouglas County 73 kmEl Dorado County 75 kmPlumas County 87 kmAlpine County 92 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
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 36 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2308 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 46 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 5.8 330,000× 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 21× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 46 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 39.3953, -120.1685. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 36 km (23 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Carson City, NV 45 km (28 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Nevada County, CA 53 km (33 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Storey County, NV 56 km (34 mi) W of here earthquakes near Storey County
Placer County, CA 60 km (38 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Douglas County, NV 73 km (45 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Douglas County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 8 km WNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  2. 1.6 16 km NNW of Truckee, California
  3. 1.8 9 km WNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  4. 1.8 9 km WNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  5. 2.0 8 km NW of Virginia City, Nevada
  6. 1.5 12 km W of Virginia City, Nevada
  7. 2.4 9 km WNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  8. 1.8 3 km SSE of Sattley, California
  9. 2.1 18km WSW of Loyalton, CA
  10. 2.0 9 km WNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  11. 2.7 10km SSE of Beckwourth, CA
  12. 2.0 16km SW of Loyalton, CA
  13. 1.6 10 km NW of Truckee, California
  14. 1.9 9 km WNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  15. 1.9 10km NW 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 2020-03-21 — it released about 3,700 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.