QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

2km NNE of Mesa Vista, CA

· 6.3 km deep · released about 400 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Douglas County 19 kmAlpine County 21 kmCarson City 39 kmLyon County 57 kmEl Dorado County 64 kmStorey County 74 kmAmador County 85 kmPlacer County 85 kmTuolumne County 89 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
6.3 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Douglas County, 19 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1828 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 400 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 38,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 27,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 400 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 38.8087, -119.7967. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Douglas County, NV 19 km (12 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Alpine County, CA 21 km (13 mi) N of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Carson City, NV 39 km (24 mi) S of here earthquakes near Carson City
Lyon County, NV 57 km (35 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
El Dorado County, CA 64 km (40 mi) E of here earthquakes near El Dorado County
Storey County, NV 74 km (46 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Storey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 28km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  2. 1.6 1 km NE of Walker, California
  3. 1.7 30km SE of Markleeville, CA
  4. 1.6 28km SE of Markleeville, CA
  5. 1.5 33km NW of Bridgeport, CA
  6. 1.7 31km SSW of Smith Valley, NV
  7. 1.5 28km SE of Markleeville, CA
  8. 1.6 26km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  9. 1.5 30km SE of Markleeville, CA
  10. 1.6 28km SE of Markleeville, CA
  11. 1.9 28km SE of Markleeville, CA
  12. 1.6 29km SE of Markleeville, CA
  13. 2.5 33km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  14. 1.5 30km S of Smith Valley, NV
  15. 1.6 31km S of Smith Valley, NV

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 75,000 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.