QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1ml

12 km E of Chilcoot-Vinton, California

· 10 km deep · released about 43 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 51 kmStorey County 56 kmPlumas County 74 kmCarson City 74 kmNevada County 87 kmPlacer County 103 kmDouglas County 104 kmWashoe County 108 kmLyon County 110 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 2.1 (ml)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 51 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3084 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 43 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 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 39.7943, -119.9927. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 51 km (32 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Storey County, NV 56 km (35 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Plumas County, CA 74 km (46 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Carson City, NV 74 km (46 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Nevada County, CA 87 km (54 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Placer County, CA 103 km (64 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

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

  1. 2.8 3 km ENE of Sutcliffe, Nevada
  2. 1.5 13 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  3. 2.4 21km NNW of Truckee, CA
  4. 1.6 13 km SSE of Doyle, California
  5. 1.6 12 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  6. 1.6 12 km NE of Chilcoot-Vinton, California
  7. 2.3 6km NNE of Chilcoot-Vinton, CA
  8. 2.9 10km SW of Cold Springs, NV
  9. 2.8 17km SSE of Whitehawk, CA
  10. 2.4 15km NE of Chilcoot-Vinton, CA
  11. 1.5 4 km W of Patton Village, California
  12. 1.6 9 km SSW of Cold Springs, Nevada
  13. 1.6 2 km WNW of Sattley, California
  14. 1.7 4 km NW of Doyle, California
  15. 1.7 3 km NNE of Spanish Springs, Nevada

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 4.5 on 2016-08-04 — it released about 3,700 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.