QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

9 km NW of Loyalton, California

· 13 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 26 kmPlumas County 52 kmNevada County 64 kmStorey County 75 kmCarson City 81 kmPlacer County 84 kmYuba County 103 kmEl Dorado County 108 kmDouglas County 111 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 26 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2831 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 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 63× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 39.7435, -120.3059. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 26 km (16 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Plumas County, CA 52 km (32 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Nevada County, CA 64 km (40 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Storey County, NV 75 km (47 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 81 km (51 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Placer County, CA 84 km (52 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Placer County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 5 km N of Truckee, California
  2. 1.9 Nevada
  3. 2.0 21km NW of Truckee, CA
  4. 1.5 8 km ESE of Milford, California
  5. 2.4 5km SE of Chilcoot-Vinton, CA
  6. 1.8 11 km E of Doyle, California
  7. 1.5 9 km NNW of Truckee, California
  8. 1.5 16 km SE of Sierraville, California
  9. 2.1 19km W of Truckee, CA
  10. 1.5 6 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  11. 1.6 7 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  12. 2.3 10km ESE of Taylorsville, CA
  13. 1.9 4km SSE of Johnsville, CA
  14. 2.3 11km NE of Cromberg, CA
  15. 2.3 2km ESE of Johnsville, 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 10,000 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.