QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

6 km WSW of Cold Springs, Nevada

· 4.2 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 42 kmStorey County 52 kmCarson City 63 kmNevada County 74 kmPlumas County 75 kmPlacer County 88 kmDouglas County 93 kmLyon County 102 kmEl Dorado County 106 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
4.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 42 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3026 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 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 39.6652, -120.0511. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 42 km (26 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Storey County, NV 52 km (32 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 63 km (39 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Nevada County, CA 74 km (46 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Plumas County, CA 75 km (47 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Placer County, CA 88 km (55 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

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

  1. 2.4 21km NNW of Truckee, CA
  2. 1.6 13 km SSE of Doyle, California
  3. 1.6 12 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  4. 1.6 12 km NE of Chilcoot-Vinton, California
  5. 2.3 6km NNE of Chilcoot-Vinton, CA
  6. 2.9 10km SW of Cold Springs, NV
  7. 2.8 17km SSE of Whitehawk, CA
  8. 2.4 15km NE of Chilcoot-Vinton, CA
  9. 1.5 6 km NW of Carnelian Bay, California
  10. 1.6 9 km SSW of Cold Springs, Nevada
  11. 1.6 2 km WNW of Sattley, California
  12. 1.7 4 km NW of Doyle, California
  13. 1.7 3 km NNE of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  14. 1.8 9 km NW of Loyalton, California
  15. 2.4 17km WSW 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.

On USGS

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