QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

16km WSW of Loyalton, CA

· -1.2 km deep · released about 46 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 11 kmNevada County 46 kmPlumas County 56 kmPlacer County 66 kmCarson City 75 kmStorey County 78 kmYuba County 89 kmEl Dorado County 92 kmButte County 103 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
-1.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 11 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1476 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 46 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 330,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 230,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 21× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 46 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 39.6037, -120.4030. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 11 km (7 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 46 km (29 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Plumas County, CA 56 km (35 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Placer County, CA 66 km (41 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Carson City, NV 75 km (47 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Storey County, NV 78 km (48 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 17km WSW of Loyalton, CA
  2. 2.4 6km NW of Johnsville, CA
  3. 1.6 5 km WNW of Plumas Eureka, California
  4. 2.0 5 km NNW of Plumas Eureka (historical), California
  5. 2.0 22km WNW of Truckee, CA
  6. 1.9 1 km NE of Carnelian Bay, California
  7. 1.8 4km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  8. 1.9 4km N of Dollar Point, CA
  9. 2.3 11km NW of Verdi-Mogul, NV
  10. 2.7 21km WNW of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
  11. 1.9 6 km NNW of Verdi, California
  12. 1.6 6 km NNW of Beckwourth, California
  13. 1.6 8 km SSE of Johnsville, California
  14. 1.6 4 km SSE of Floriston, California
  15. 2.6 14km N of Kings Beach, 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 6,200 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.