QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

8 km NNE of Calpine, California

· 2.6 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 20 kmPlumas County 45 kmNevada County 58 kmPlacer County 80 kmStorey County 83 kmCarson City 87 kmYuba County 95 kmButte 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
2.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 20 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2841 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 39.7379, -120.4119. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 20 km (13 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Plumas County, CA 45 km (28 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Nevada County, CA 58 km (36 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Placer County, CA 80 km (50 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Storey County, NV 83 km (52 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 87 km (54 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City

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. 1.5 9 km NNW of Truckee, California
  2. 1.5 16 km SE of Sierraville, California
  3. 2.1 19km W of Truckee, CA
  4. 1.5 6 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  5. 1.6 7 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  6. 2.3 10km ESE of Taylorsville, CA
  7. 1.9 4km SSE of Johnsville, CA
  8. 2.3 11km NE of Cromberg, CA
  9. 2.3 2km ESE of Johnsville, CA
  10. 1.5 14 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  11. 2.1 19km SSW of Whitehawk, CA
  12. 1.6 7 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  13. 1.9 3km SE of Taylorsville, CA
  14. 2.3 10km NNW of Truckee, CA
  15. 2.4 4km 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.5 on 2016-08-04 — it released about 15,000 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.