QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

9 km NNE of Walker, CA

· 6.5 km deep · released about 38 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alpine County 33 kmDouglas County 39 kmLyon County 52 kmCarson City 69 kmTuolumne County 78 kmMineral County 88 kmMono County 89 kmStorey County 95 kmEl Dorado County 99 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
6.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Alpine County, 33 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 390 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 38.5853, -119.4255. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alpine County, CA 33 km (20 mi) E of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Douglas County, NV 39 km (24 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Lyon County, NV 52 km (33 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Carson City, NV 69 km (43 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Tuolumne County, CA 78 km (49 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Mineral County, NV 88 km (55 mi) W of here earthquakes near Mineral County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 15 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  2. 1.9 14 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  3. 2.3 15 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  4. 2.3 15 km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  5. 2.0 2 km SW of Walker, CA
  6. 1.8 6 km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  7. 2.2 18 km NE of Dardanelle, CA
  8. 1.9 20 km E of Markleeville, CA
  9. 1.9 13 km WNW of Walker, CA
  10. 2.2 13 km SW of Walker, CA
  11. 2.3 15 km E of Markleeville, CA
  12. 1.6 26 km SW of Walker Lake, Nevada
  13. 2.2 5 km SSW of Walker, CA
  14. 2.1 6 km SSW of Walker, CA
  15. 1.7 3 km SW of Topaz Lake, Nevada

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 790,000 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.