QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

9 km SSW of South Lake Tahoe, CA

· 6.5 km deep · released about 74 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alpine County 32 kmDouglas County 36 kmCarson City 41 kmEl Dorado County 45 kmPlacer County 65 kmAmador County 71 kmLyon County 74 kmStorey County 78 kmNevada County 81 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
6.5 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Alpine County, 32 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 382 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 74 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 140,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 13× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 74 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 38.8528, -120.0243. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alpine County, CA 32 km (20 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Douglas County, NV 36 km (23 mi) W of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Carson City, NV 41 km (26 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Carson City
El Dorado County, CA 45 km (28 mi) E of here earthquakes near El Dorado County
Placer County, CA 65 km (40 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Amador County, CA 71 km (44 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Amador County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 8 km NNW of Dollar Point, CA
  2. 1.9 13 km WNW of Walker, CA
  3. 2.3 15 km E of Markleeville, CA
  4. 2.3 4 km SW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  5. 2.0 4 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  6. 2.0 3 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  7. 1.7 3 km SW of Topaz Lake, Nevada
  8. 2.3 19 km E of Markleeville, CA
  9. 2.2 8 km SSE of South Lake Tahoe, CA
  10. 1.7 7 km WNW of Topaz Ranch Estates, Nevada
  11. 1.7 6 km N of Carson City, Nevada
  12. 2.3 7 km ENE of Markleeville, CA
  13. 1.5 8 km SSW of Dayton, Nevada
  14. 1.8 6 km N of Carson City, Nevada
  15. 1.7 7 km N of Carson City, 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 4.5 on 2020-03-21 — it released about 2,300 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.