QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0md

21km SW of Smith Valley, NV

· 4.8 km deep · released about 800 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alpine County 23 kmDouglas County 28 kmLyon County 49 kmCarson City 57 kmTuolumne County 81 kmStorey County 86 kmEl Dorado County 88 kmMineral County 99 kmAmador County 100 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 3.0 (md)
Depth
4.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Alpine County, 23 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1907 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 800 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 420,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 19,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 13,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 800 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 38.6640, -119.5353. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alpine County, CA 23 km (14 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Douglas County, NV 28 km (17 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Lyon County, NV 49 km (31 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Carson City, NV 57 km (36 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Tuolumne County, CA 81 km (50 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Storey County, NV 86 km (54 mi) S of here earthquakes near Storey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 30km NE of Dardanelle, CA
  2. 4.6 29km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  3. 2.4 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  4. 2.4 32km SE of Markleeville, CA
  5. 2.6 30km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  6. 3.0 29km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  7. 2.4 30km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  8. 2.9 30km SE of Markleeville, CA
  9. 3.0 30km SE of Markleeville, CA
  10. 3.0 32km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  11. 2.0 9 km ENE of Coleville, California
  12. 2.6 33km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  13. 3.0 31km SE of Markleeville, CA
  14. 2.6 31km SE of Markleeville, CA
  15. 3.4 31km SE of Markleeville, 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.