QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

32 km S of Whitehawk, CA

· 6.2 km deep · released about 18 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 16 kmNevada County 23 kmPlacer County 43 kmPlumas County 66 kmYuba County 69 kmEl Dorado County 72 kmCarson City 77 kmStorey County 90 kmButte County 93 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
6.2 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity I
Nearest
Sierra County, 16 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 124 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 18 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 840,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 53× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 18 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 39.4333, -120.5668. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 16 km (10 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 23 km (14 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Placer County, CA 43 km (27 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Plumas County, CA 66 km (41 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Yuba County, CA 69 km (43 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Yuba County
El Dorado County, CA 72 km (45 mi) N of here earthquakes near El Dorado County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 11 km N of Kings Beach, CA
  2. 2.2 9 km S of Johnsville, CA
  3. 2.3 9 km NW of Verdi-Mogul, NV
  4. 1.6 9 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  5. 2.0 10 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  6. 2.0 5 km SSW of Cromberg, CA
  7. 3.0 4 km WSW of Johnsville, CA
  8. 1.8 8 km NNW of Dollar Point, CA
  9. 2.4 5 km NW of Johnsville, CA
  10. 1.7 12 km N of Kings Beach, 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 16,000 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.