QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

16km WSW of Loyalton, CA

· -1.4 km deep · released about 44 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 11 kmNevada County 47 kmPlumas County 57 kmPlacer County 66 kmCarson City 75 kmStorey County 77 kmYuba County 89 kmEl Dorado County 91 kmDouglas 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
-1.4 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 1470 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 44 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 5.8 340,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 240,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 44 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 39.6017, -120.3985. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 11 km (7 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 47 km (29 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Plumas County, CA 57 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 77 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. 3.1 6 km S of Cold Springs, Nevada
  2. 3.7 Nevada
  3. 1.6 7 km S of Cold Springs, Nevada
  4. 1.6 Northern California
  5. 1.7 13km N of Tahoe Vista, CA
  6. 2.3 4km SSE of Truckee, CA
  7. 1.6 Northern California
  8. 1.5 5 km SSW of Cromberg, California
  9. 2.2 17km WSW of Loyalton, CA
  10. 2.4 6km NW of Johnsville, CA
  11. 1.6 5 km WNW of Plumas Eureka, California
  12. 2.0 5 km NNW of Plumas Eureka (historical), California
  13. 2.0 22km WNW of Truckee, CA
  14. 1.9 1 km NE of Carnelian Bay, California
  15. 1.8 4km WSW of Tahoe Vista, 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 6,500 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.