Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.7ml
10 km WSW of South Lake Tahoe, CA
41 km (26 mi) SW of Carson, NV · 125 km (78 mi) ENE of Sacramento, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.7 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Measured shaking
- intensity IV (ShakeMap)
- Nearest
- Alpine County, 39 km SE
- Nearest mapped fault
- West Tahoe-Dollar Point fault, under 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 51 minutes ago
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 5 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.7 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 34,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.7 about 5 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 10× 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.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2020-03-21 — about 17 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 6.1 4 km S of Carter Springs, Nevada · 38 km ESE of this epicentre
- 5.1 10 km SE of South Lake Tahoe, California · 16 km E of this epicentre
- 5.1 8 km ESE of Mesa Vista, California · 35 km ESE of this epicentre
- 5.0 12 km S of South Lake Tahoe, California · 12 km SE of this epicentre
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 38.8900, -120.0832. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine County, CA | 39 km (24 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Alpine County |
| El Dorado County, CA | 41 km (25 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near El Dorado County |
| Douglas County, NV | 41 km (26 mi) | E | earthquakes near Douglas County |
| Carson City, NV | 41 km (26 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Carson City |
| Placer County, CA | 59 km (36 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Placer County |
| Amador County, CA | 70 km (44 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Amador County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
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.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| measured intensity | 3.68 | 3.7 | |
| measured intensity | not reported | 3.68 | |
| review status | automatic | reviewed |
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.