QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

16 km NNW of Truckee, CA

· 6.4 km deep · released about 46 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 28 kmNevada County 50 kmCarson City 54 kmStorey County 61 kmPlacer County 62 kmPlumas County 77 kmEl Dorado County 80 kmDouglas County 82 kmYuba 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
6.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 28 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1105 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 39.4652, -120.2335. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 28 km (17 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 50 km (31 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Carson City, NV 54 km (34 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Storey County, NV 61 km (38 mi) W of here earthquakes near Storey County
Placer County, CA 62 km (38 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Plumas County, CA 77 km (48 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Plumas 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. 1.6 11 km NNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  2. 1.8 11 km NNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  3. 2.4 11 km NNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  4. 2.1 11 km NNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  5. 2.5 11 km NNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  6. 2.2 11 km NNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  7. 1.6 3 km NE of Dollar Point, CA
  8. 1.7 8 km ENE of Floriston, California
  9. 1.6 11 km E of Floriston, California
  10. 2.1 20 km WNW of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
  11. 1.6 2 km NNE of Reno, Nevada
  12. 1.7 2 km NNE of Reno, Nevada
  13. 1.8 2 km NNE of Reno, Nevada
  14. 1.6 2 km NNE of Reno, Nevada
  15. 1.6 2 km NNE of Reno, Nevada

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.