Earthquake near Kings Beach, CA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 17 km (11 mi) from the epicentre. In Kings Beach, 11 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Likely felt in: Tahoe Vista 11 km, intensity II · Truckee 14 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 41 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 5.8 370,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 260,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 23× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 41 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.7 on 2021-05-07 — about 6,900 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.0 Near Reno, Nevada · 26 km NE of this epicentre Feb 18, 1914
2. 6.0 6 km WNW of Verdi, California · 25 km NNW of this epicentre Dec 29, 1948
3. 5.9 9 km NW of Truckee, California · 22 km WNW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1966
4. 5.6 5 km NE of Loyalton, California · 46 km NNW of this epicentre Apr 1, 1959
5. 5.3 11 km N of Soda Springs, California · 35 km WNW of this epicentre Mar 30, 1943

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 39.3325, -120.0172. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.1 5 km NW of Spanish Springs, Nevada 21:00 UTC
2. 1.7 3 km S of Dollar Point, CA 12:21 UTC
3. 2.2 5 km N of Johnson Lane, Nevada 17:41 UTC
4. 2.1 9 km SE of Dollar Point, CA 12:13 UTC
5. 1.6 19 km ESE of Spanish Springs, Nevada 21:00 UTC
6. 1.9 4 km NNE of Dollar Point, CA 17:22 UTC
7. 2.3 6 km ESE of Mogul, Nevada 06:07 UTC
8. 2.9 10 km WSW of South Lake Tahoe, CA 06:58 UTC
9. 3.3 9 km WSW of South Lake Tahoe, CA 10:00 UTC
10. 1.6 2 km NNW of Sun Valley, Nevada 02:27 UTC
11. 1.9 1 km WNW of Sun Valley, Nevada 21:54 UTC
12. 2.8 1 km WNW of Sun Valley, Nevada 05:33 UTC
13. 1.8 1 km WNW of Sun Valley, Nevada 18:32 UTC
14. 1.6 1 km NNW of Sun Valley, Nevada 11:49 UTC
15. 2.1 11 km N of Kings Beach, CA 10:09 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:38 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.