Earthquake near South Lake Tahoe, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 32 km (20 mi) from the epicentre. In South Lake Tahoe, 36 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Likely felt in: Topaz Ranch Estates 26 km, intensity II · Gardnerville Ranchos 26 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 700 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 15,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 700 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.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.1 4 km S of Carter Springs, Nevada · 21 km NNE of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994
2. 5.2 23 km S of Walker, California · 46 km SSE of this epicentre Dec 19, 1919
3. 5.1 10 km SE of South Lake Tahoe, California · 27 km NNW of this epicentre Dec 17, 1942
4. 5.1 8 km ESE of Mesa Vista, California · 15 km NNE of this epicentre Sep 12, 1994
5. 5.0 Near Coleville, California · 25 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 5, 1915

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 38.6525, -119.7750. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 4.4 32km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 00:27 UTC
2. 1.9 29km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 00:20 UTC
3. 2.6 30km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 00:20 UTC
4. 2.6 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 00:19 UTC
5. 2.9 4km W of Walker, CA 00:17 UTC
6. 2.9 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 00:15 UTC
7. 2.7 31km SE of Markleeville, CA 00:12 UTC
8. 1.7 2 km SSE of Coleville, California 00:10 UTC
9. 2.4 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 00:05 UTC
10. 3.9 31km NW of Bridgeport, CA 00:05 UTC
11. 3.6 28km SE of Markleeville, CA 00:03 UTC
12. 2.3 28km ENE of Dardanelle, CA 00:02 UTC
13. 3.0 31km SE of Markleeville, CA 00:01 UTC
14. 4.2 29km SE of Markleeville, CA 23:58 UTC
15. 2.8 32km SE of Markleeville, CA 23:57 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:40 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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