QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.4md

12km NW of Truckee, CA

· -2.1 km deep · released about 120 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 28 kmNevada County 44 kmCarson City 54 kmPlacer County 54 kmStorey County 65 kmEl Dorado County 72 kmDouglas County 80 kmPlumas County 80 kmYuba County 93 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 2.4 (md)
Depth
-2.1 km below the surface
Felt
15 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Sierra County, 28 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1922 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 15 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 120 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 120,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 86,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 7.7× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 120 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 39.4050, -120.2772. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 28 km (18 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 44 km (27 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Carson City, NV 54 km (33 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Placer County, CA 54 km (34 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Storey County, NV 65 km (40 mi) W of here earthquakes near Storey County
El Dorado County, CA 72 km (45 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near El Dorado County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 26km W of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
  2. 2.1 24km SSW of Loyalton, CA
  3. 2.2 10km N of Truckee, CA
  4. 1.5 3 km WNW of Sierra City, California
  5. 1.9 7 km ENE of Floriston, California
  6. 1.5 7 km ENE of Floriston, California
  7. 1.9 4km E of Truckee, CA
  8. 2.7 4km E of Truckee, CA
  9. 1.6 6 km ENE of Cold Springs, Nevada
  10. 2.4 3km NE of Dollar Point, CA
  11. 2.2 4km E of Truckee, CA
  12. 1.8 4km SW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  13. 1.5 1 km ESE of C-Road, California
  14. 1.7 7 km ENE of Floriston, California
  15. 2.0 14km SSW of Loyalton, 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 4.7 on 2021-05-07 — it released about 2,300 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.