QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.2mw

29km SE of Markleeville, CA

· 5.8 km deep · released about 35 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alpine County 26 kmDouglas County 42 kmLyon County 61 kmTuolumne County 69 kmCarson City 71 kmMono County 89 kmEl Dorado County 92 kmMineral County 96 kmCalaveras County 98 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
5.8 km below the surface
Felt
93 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Alpine County, 26 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 948 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 93 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 35 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 4,900× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 220× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 150× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.2 about 35 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 72× 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 38.5370, -119.5240. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alpine County, CA 26 km (16 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Douglas County, NV 42 km (26 mi) S of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Lyon County, NV 61 km (38 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Tuolumne County, CA 69 km (43 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Carson City, NV 71 km (44 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Mono County, CA 89 km (56 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Mono County

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. 1.9 6 km W of Walker, California
  2. 1.9 3 km WNW of Walker, California
  3. 2.9 31km SE of Markleeville, CA
  4. 2.3 31km SE of Markleeville, CA
  5. 2.9 30km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  6. 2.3 3 km SSW of Coleville, California
  7. 3.2 30km SE of Markleeville, CA
  8. 2.4 31km SE of Markleeville, CA
  9. 2.3 32km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  10. 2.7 30km SE of Markleeville, CA
  11. 1.8 19 km E of Walker, California
  12. 2.7 6 km W of Walker, California
  13. 4.5 30km SE of Markleeville, CA
  14. 2.7 32km SE of Markleeville, CA
  15. 2.5 31km ENE of Dardanelle, 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 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — it released about 440 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.