QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

20 km WNW of Kirkwood, CA

· 16 km deep · released about 38 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N El Dorado County 23 kmAlpine County 44 kmAmador County 47 kmPlacer County 53 kmDouglas County 61 kmCarson City 65 kmCalaveras County 66 kmNevada County 75 kmTuolumne County 85 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
16 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
El Dorado County, 23 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 660 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 38 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 5.8 390,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 280,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 25× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 38 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 38.7413, -120.2757. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
El Dorado County, CA 23 km (14 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near El Dorado County
Alpine County, CA 44 km (27 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Amador County, CA 47 km (29 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Amador County
Placer County, CA 53 km (33 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Douglas County, NV 61 km (38 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Carson City, NV 65 km (40 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Carson City

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 6 km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  2. 2.2 8 km SSE of South Lake Tahoe, CA
  3. 2.0 22 km SSW of Tahoma, CA
  4. 1.8 22 km SSW of Tahoma, CA
  5. 2.3 9 km SE of Dollar Point, CA
  6. 2.0 7 km SW of Markleeville, CA
  7. 2.4 6 km SW of Markleeville, CA
  8. 2.4 7 km S of Markleeville, CA
  9. 2.4 7 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  10. 2.0 7 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  11. 2.7 7 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  12. 2.5 7 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  13. 2.3 9 km SSW of South Lake Tahoe, CA
  14. 2.3 4 km S of Markleeville, CA
  15. 2.5 7 km SSW of Markleeville, 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 4.2 on 2021-05-28 — it released about 1,300 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.