QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.5md

18 km S of Loyalton, CA

· -1.6 km deep · released about 150 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 22 kmNevada County 50 kmCarson City 61 kmPlacer County 64 kmStorey County 65 kmPlumas County 71 kmEl Dorado County 85 kmDouglas County 89 kmYuba County 96 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 2.5 (md)
Depth
-1.6 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Sierra County, 22 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 170 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 150 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 99,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 70,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 6.2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 150 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 39.5200, -120.2712. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 22 km (14 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 50 km (31 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Carson City, NV 61 km (38 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Placer County, CA 64 km (40 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Storey County, NV 65 km (40 mi) W of here earthquakes near Storey County
Plumas County, CA 71 km (44 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Plumas County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 10 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  2. 2.2 8 km NE of Lake Davis, CA
  3. 3.0 4 km WSW of Johnsville, CA
  4. 2.2 12 km NNW of Incline Village-Crystal Bay, NV
  5. 1.6 6 km SSE of Floriston, California
  6. 2.0 6 km SSE of Floriston, California
  7. 1.8 8 km NNW of Dollar Point, CA
  8. 1.7 12 km N of Kings Beach, CA
  9. 2.1 8 km NE of Lake Davis, CA
  10. 2.2 8 km NE of Lake Davis, CA
  11. 2.3 4 km SW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  12. 2.0 4 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  13. 2.0 3 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  14. 2.1 16 km SE of Whitehawk, CA
  15. 3.3 9 km NNE of Truckee, 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 1,900 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.