QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

20 km WNW of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA

· -1.0 km deep · released about 47 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Placer County 33 kmNevada County 35 kmSierra County 44 kmEl Dorado County 48 kmCarson City 55 kmDouglas County 74 kmStorey County 79 kmAlpine County 81 kmYuba County 83 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
-1.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Placer County, 33 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 996 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 47 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 5.8 320,000× 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 20× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 47 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 39.1965, -120.3827. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Placer County, CA 33 km (20 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Nevada County, CA 35 km (22 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Sierra County, CA 44 km (27 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
El Dorado County, CA 48 km (30 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near El Dorado County
Carson City, NV 55 km (34 mi) W of here earthquakes near Carson City
Douglas County, NV 74 km (46 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Douglas County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 9 km SSW of South Lake Tahoe, CA
  2. 1.5 3 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  3. 2.2 15 km NW of Truckee, CA
  4. 1.7 4 km NNE of Dollar Point, CA
  5. 1.8 4 km NNE of Dollar Point, CA
  6. 1.7 4 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  7. 1.7 3 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  8. 2.1 6 km SSE of Floriston, California
  9. 1.8 4 km ESE of Truckee, CA
  10. 2.9 14 km SW of Loyalton, CA
  11. 2.3 14 km SW of Loyalton, CA
  12. 2.2 13 km SSW of Loyalton, CA
  13. 2.9 14 km SW of Loyalton, CA
  14. 1.5 5 km SE of Floriston, California
  15. 2.4 10 km NNW of Truckee, 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 6,000 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.