QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

2 km SE of Johnsville, California

· 13 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 23 kmPlumas County 31 kmNevada County 50 kmPlacer County 76 kmYuba County 78 kmButte County 80 kmCarson City 103 kmStorey County 104 kmEl Dorado County 107 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
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 23 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2856 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 39.7417, -120.6768. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 23 km (14 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Plumas County, CA 31 km (19 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Nevada County, CA 50 km (31 mi) N of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Placer County, CA 76 km (47 mi) N of here earthquakes near Placer County
Yuba County, CA 78 km (48 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Yuba County
Butte County, CA 80 km (50 mi) E of here earthquakes near Butte County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 7 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  2. 1.9 3km SE of Taylorsville, CA
  3. 2.4 4km SE of Taylorsville, CA
  4. 2.1 20km SSW of Whitehawk, CA
  5. 2.4 20km SSW of Whitehawk, CA
  6. 1.8 2 km E of Cromberg, California
  7. 1.6 7 km NNE of Plumas Eureka, California
  8. 1.7 6 km N of Greenhorn, California
  9. 1.5 13 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  10. 2.4 21km NNW of Truckee, CA
  11. 1.6 12 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  12. 1.8 4km W of Taylorsville, CA
  13. 2.8 17km SSE of Whitehawk, CA
  14. 2.2 6km WSW of Valley Ranch, CA
  15. 2.2 5km SE of Taylorsville, 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.