QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.2mw

5 km NNW of Walker, CA

· 4.5 km deep · released about 35 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alpine County 26 kmDouglas County 40 kmLyon County 58 kmCarson City 69 kmTuolumne County 72 kmMono County 90 kmEl Dorado County 92 kmMineral County 95 kmStorey 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 4.2 (mw)
Depth
4.5 km below the surface
Felt
299 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Alpine County, 26 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 997 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 299 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 35 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 4,900× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 220× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 150× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.2 about 35 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 72× 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 38.5572, -119.5103. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alpine County, CA 26 km (16 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Douglas County, NV 40 km (25 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Lyon County, NV 58 km (36 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Carson City, NV 69 km (43 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Tuolumne County, CA 72 km (44 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Mono County, CA 90 km (56 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Mono 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. 1.5 3 km ENE of Topaz Lake, Nevada
  2. 1.7 11 km SE of Smith, Nevada
  3. 1.9 12 km SE of Smith, Nevada
  4. 1.7 12 km SE of Smith, Nevada
  5. 1.5 6 km SE of Topaz Ranch Estates, Nevada
  6. 1.5 11 km SE of Smith, Nevada
  7. 2.0 11 km SE of Smith, Nevada
  8. 2.4 12 km SE of Smith, Nevada
  9. 1.7 11 km SE of Smith, Nevada
  10. 1.6 11 km SE of Smith, Nevada
  11. 1.5 9 km WNW of Topaz Ranch Estates, Nevada
  12. 1.6 1 km SSW of Coleville, California
  13. 1.6 11 km W of Bridgeport, California
  14. 1.6 5 km ESE of Smith, Nevada
  15. 2.0 6 km SW of Walker, 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 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — it released about 440 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.