QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2ml

8 km NNE of Truckee, CA

· 5.7 km deep · released about 1,900 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 38 kmCarson City 44 kmNevada County 54 kmStorey County 54 kmPlacer County 61 kmDouglas County 72 kmEl Dorado County 75 kmPlumas County 88 kmAlpine County 91 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 3.2 (ml)
Depth
5.7 km below the surface
Felt
142 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Sierra County, 38 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 93 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 142 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,900 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,900× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,600× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,900 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2× 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 39.3933, -120.1552. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 38 km (23 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Carson City, NV 44 km (27 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Nevada County, CA 54 km (34 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Storey County, NV 54 km (34 mi) W of here earthquakes near Storey County
Placer County, CA 61 km (38 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Douglas County, NV 72 km (45 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Douglas 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 8 km E of Sparks, Nevada
  2. 2.2 11 km NNE of Kings Beach, CA
  3. 2.1 20 km NNW of Truckee, CA
  4. 2.1 3 km S of Virginia City, Nevada
  5. 1.5 3 km S of Virginia City, Nevada
  6. 2.3 4 km W of Tahoe Vista, CA
  7. 2.4 4 km W of Tahoe Vista, CA
  8. 1.5 3 km S of Virginia City, Nevada
  9. 2.3 3 km S of Virginia City, Nevada
  10. 2.3 4 km S of Virginia City, Nevada
  11. 1.6 3 km SSE of Virginia City, Nevada
  12. 2.2 11 km NNE of Tahoe Vista, CA
  13. 2.5 11 km NNE of Tahoe Vista, CA
  14. 2.3 8 km SSE of Dollar Point, CA
  15. 2.1 8 km SSE of Dollar Point, 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 150 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.