QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4ml

3 km ESE of Mesa Vista, CA

· 6.2 km deep · released about 1.7 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Douglas County 19 kmAlpine County 19 kmCarson City 40 kmLyon County 56 kmEl Dorado County 66 kmStorey County 75 kmAmador County 86 kmTuolumne County 87 kmPlacer County 88 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 3.4 (ml)
Depth
6.2 km below the surface
Felt
73 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Douglas County, 19 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 577 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 73 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.7 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,200× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.7 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.5× 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 38.7908, -119.7692. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Douglas County, NV 19 km (12 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Alpine County, CA 19 km (12 mi) N of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Carson City, NV 40 km (25 mi) S of here earthquakes near Carson City
Lyon County, NV 56 km (35 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
El Dorado County, CA 66 km (41 mi) E of here earthquakes near El Dorado County
Storey County, NV 75 km (47 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Storey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 10 km NNE of Fish Springs, Nevada
  2. 1.5 5 km W of Walker, California
  3. 1.6 1 km SE of Topaz Lake, Nevada
  4. 1.8 2 km NNW of Topaz Lake, Nevada
  5. 1.7 12 km SW of Walker, California
  6. 2.3 9 km SE of Dollar Point, CA
  7. 2.0 7 km SW of Markleeville, CA
  8. 2.4 6 km SW of Markleeville, CA
  9. 2.2 4 km SW of Walker, CA
  10. 1.5 3 km W of Topaz Lake, Nevada
  11. 1.6 1 km SE of Johnson Lane, Nevada
  12. 2.1 19 km NNW of Walker, CA
  13. 1.5 4 km W of Walker, California
  14. 1.5 14 km SSW of Walker, California
  15. 2.4 7 km S 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 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — it released about 9,100 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.