QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

14 km W of South Lake Tahoe, California

· 15 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N El Dorado County 37 kmCarson City 43 kmAlpine County 45 kmDouglas County 47 kmPlacer County 52 kmNevada County 68 kmAmador County 69 kmStorey County 78 kmSierra County 79 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
15 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
El Dorado County, 37 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 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 38.9251, -120.1470. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
El Dorado County, CA 37 km (23 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near El Dorado County
Carson City, NV 43 km (27 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Alpine County, CA 45 km (28 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Douglas County, NV 47 km (29 mi) W of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Placer County, CA 52 km (32 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Nevada County, CA 68 km (42 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Nevada County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 8km NE of Markleeville, CA
  2. 2.3 7km NE of Markleeville, CA
  3. 2.3 7km SSW of Markleeville, CA
  4. 1.7 7 km SSW of Carter Springs, Nevada
  5. 1.5 6 km NW of Carnelian Bay, California
  6. 2.3 3km W of Markleeville, CA
  7. 1.5 7 km NE of Markleeville, California
  8. 1.5 8 km NE of Markleeville, California
  9. 2.6 9km NE of Markleeville, CA
  10. 2.6 9km NE of Markleeville, CA
  11. 2.3 5 km ENE of Indian Hills, Nevada
  12. 2.1 6 km SE of Carson City, Nevada
  13. 2.3 8km SSE of Markleeville, CA
  14. 2.4 17km WSW of Truckee, CA
  15. 1.6 5 km ENE of Indian Hills, 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.

On USGS

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