QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

16 km SE of Sierraville, California

· 9.4 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 26 kmNevada County 49 kmCarson City 56 kmPlacer County 61 kmStorey County 63 kmPlumas County 76 kmEl Dorado County 80 kmDouglas County 84 kmYuba County 97 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
9.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 26 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2545 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 39.4740, -120.2521. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 26 km (16 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 49 km (30 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Carson City, NV 56 km (35 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Placer County, CA 61 km (38 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Storey County, NV 63 km (39 mi) W of here earthquakes near Storey County
Plumas County, CA 76 km (47 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Plumas County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 16km NW of Truckee, CA
  2. 2.0 8km SSW of Chilcoot-Vinton, CA
  3. 1.6 11 km S of Reno, Nevada
  4. 2.1 8km N of Truckee, CA
  5. 1.8 15km NW of Truckee, CA
  6. 2.8 15km NW of Truckee, CA
  7. 2.2 3km NE of Dollar Point, CA
  8. 2.1 8km N of Truckee, CA
  9. 2.2 15km NW of Truckee, CA
  10. 2.5 16km W of Truckee, CA
  11. 1.6 2 km W of Sun Valley, Nevada
  12. 1.5 2 km SE of Golden Valley, Nevada
  13. 2.8 25km W of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
  14. 1.7 7km NNW of Cold Springs, NV
  15. 2.0 11km NNE of Tahoe Vista, 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.