QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.4md

6 km SW of Cold Springs, NV

· 6.3 km deep · released about 130 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 44 kmStorey County 48 kmCarson City 59 kmNevada County 75 kmPlumas County 79 kmPlacer County 88 kmDouglas County 89 kmLyon County 99 kmEl Dorado County 105 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 2.4 (md)
Depth
6.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 44 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 210 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 130 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 110,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 80,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 7.2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 130 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 39.6403, -120.0198. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 44 km (27 mi) E of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Storey County, NV 48 km (30 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 59 km (37 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Nevada County, CA 75 km (47 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Plumas County, CA 79 km (49 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Placer County, CA 88 km (55 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Placer County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 8 km ESE of Sparks, Nevada
  2. 1.6 9 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  3. 1.5 7 km SSE of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  4. 1.6 7 km ENE of Floriston, California
  5. 2.6 8 km NE of Lake Davis, CA
  6. 2.3 8 km NE of Lake Davis, CA
  7. 2.0 10 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  8. 2.2 8 km NE of Lake Davis, CA
  9. 2.2 12 km NNW of Incline Village-Crystal Bay, NV
  10. 1.6 6 km SSE of Floriston, California
  11. 2.0 6 km SSE of Floriston, California
  12. 1.8 8 km NNW of Dollar Point, CA
  13. 1.7 12 km N of Kings Beach, CA
  14. 1.7 9 km E of Sparks, Nevada
  15. 2.1 8 km NE of Lake Davis, 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 2,100 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.