QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

3 km SW of Tahoe Vista, CA

· 5.0 km deep · released about 43 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Carson City 29 kmStorey County 53 kmDouglas County 53 kmSierra County 55 kmPlacer County 59 kmNevada County 61 kmEl Dorado County 62 kmAlpine County 71 kmLyon County 79 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
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Carson City, 29 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 572 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 43 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 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 39.2192, -120.0750. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Carson City, NV 29 km (18 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Storey County, NV 53 km (33 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Douglas County, NV 53 km (33 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Sierra County, CA 55 km (34 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Placer County, CA 59 km (36 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Nevada County, CA 61 km (38 mi) E of here earthquakes near Nevada 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. 1.7 8 km SSW of Dayton, Nevada
  2. 1.8 22 km SSW of Tahoma, CA
  3. 2.1 5 km W of Tahoe Vista, CA
  4. 1.6 0 km SW of Carnelian Bay, California
  5. 2.3 4 km SW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  6. 1.8 3 km NNE of Dollar Point, CA
  7. 1.7 20 km WNW of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
  8. 1.9 4 km NNE of Dollar Point, CA
  9. 2.7 25 km W of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
  10. 1.9 10 km NNE of Fish Springs, Nevada
  11. 2.5 18 km S of Loyalton, CA
  12. 2.3 20 km WNW of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
  13. 1.9 20 km WNW of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
  14. 2.2 15 km NNW of Incline Village-Crystal Bay, NV
  15. 2.3 9 km SE 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 6,700 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.