QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3ml

9 km NNE of Truckee, CA

· 11 km deep · released about 1.5 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 38 kmCarson City 43 kmStorey County 53 kmNevada County 56 kmPlacer County 63 kmDouglas County 72 kmEl Dorado County 77 kmPlumas County 88 kmLyon County 91 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 3.3 (ml)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
48 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Sierra County, 38 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 53 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 48 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.5 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 110,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,900× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,500× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.5 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.2× more

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 39.4045, -120.1345. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 38 km (24 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Carson City, NV 43 km (27 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Storey County, NV 53 km (33 mi) W of here earthquakes near Storey County
Nevada County, CA 56 km (35 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Placer County, CA 63 km (39 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Douglas County, NV 72 km (45 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Douglas County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 2 km NNW of Sun Valley, Nevada
  2. 1.9 1 km WNW of Sun Valley, Nevada
  3. 2.8 1 km WNW of Sun Valley, Nevada
  4. 1.8 1 km WNW of Sun Valley, Nevada
  5. 1.6 1 km NNW of Sun Valley, Nevada
  6. 2.1 11 km N of Kings Beach, CA
  7. 2.3 9 km NW of Verdi-Mogul, NV
  8. 1.7 5 km SSE of Floriston, California
  9. 2.4 4 km NW of Cold Springs, NV
  10. 1.8 8 km ESE of Sparks, Nevada
  11. 1.6 9 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  12. 1.5 7 km SSE of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  13. 1.6 7 km ENE of Floriston, California
  14. 2.0 10 km NNE of Truckee, CA
  15. 2.2 12 km NNW of Incline Village-Crystal Bay, NV

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 92 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.