QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.2mw

10km SE of Dollar Point, CA

· 7.0 km deep · released about 25 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Carson City 25 kmDouglas County 44 kmStorey County 56 kmEl Dorado County 58 kmAlpine County 59 kmPlacer County 60 kmSierra County 66 kmNevada County 67 kmLyon County 73 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 4.2 (mw)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
1659 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Carson City, 25 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1597 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 1659 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 25 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 6,700× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 300× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 210× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.2 about 25 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 53× 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 39.1222, -120.0287. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Carson City, NV 25 km (15 mi) W of here earthquakes near Carson City
Douglas County, NV 44 km (27 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Storey County, NV 56 km (35 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Storey County
El Dorado County, CA 58 km (36 mi) NE of here earthquakes near El Dorado County
Alpine County, CA 59 km (37 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Placer County, CA 60 km (37 mi) E of here earthquakes near Placer County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 4km SW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  2. 2.0 4 km N of Carter Springs, Nevada
  3. 1.6 9 km E of Carson City, Nevada
  4. 1.7 7 km ENE of Floriston, California
  5. 1.6 6 km ENE of Floriston, California
  6. 1.6 4 km N of Carter Springs, Nevada
  7. 1.6 5 km SW of Dayton, Nevada
  8. 2.1 6km N of Tahoe Vista, CA
  9. 2.1 7 km ENE of Floriston, California
  10. 1.5 7 km W of Mesa Vista, California
  11. 1.5 7 km ENE of Floriston, California
  12. 1.9 4 km N of Carter Springs, Nevada
  13. 1.9 4 km N of Carter Springs, Nevada
  14. 1.8 5 km SSW of Dayton, Nevada
  15. 1.9 4 km S of Virginia City, Nevada

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 5.6 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.