QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3ml

16km WSW of Loyalton, CA

· -1.6 km deep · released about 1.3 tons 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 3.3 (ml)
Depth
-1.6 km below the surface
Felt
20 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Sierra County, 11 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1408 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 20 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.8× 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 39.6025, -120.4032. 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

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

  1. 2.3 4km SSE of Truckee, CA
  2. 1.6 Northern California
  3. 1.5 5 km SSW of Cromberg, California
  4. 2.2 17km WSW of Loyalton, CA
  5. 2.4 6km NW of Johnsville, CA
  6. 1.6 5 km WNW of Plumas Eureka, California
  7. 2.0 5 km NNW of Plumas Eureka (historical), California
  8. 2.0 22km WNW of Truckee, CA
  9. 1.9 1 km NE of Carnelian Bay, California
  10. 1.8 4km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  11. 1.9 4km N of Dollar Point, CA
  12. 1.9 4km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  13. 2.3 11km NW of Verdi-Mogul, NV
  14. 2.7 21km WNW of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
  15. 1.9 6 km NNW of Verdi, California

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 110 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.