QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

15 km SSE of Sierraville, California

· 14 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 22 kmNevada County 44 kmPlacer County 57 kmCarson City 59 kmStorey County 67 kmPlumas County 74 kmEl Dorado County 77 kmDouglas County 86 kmYuba County 91 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
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 22 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1969 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 39.4599, -120.3102. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 22 km (14 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 44 km (27 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Placer County, CA 57 km (35 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Placer County
Carson City, NV 59 km (37 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Storey County, NV 67 km (42 mi) W of here earthquakes near Storey County
Plumas County, CA 74 km (46 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

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

  1. 1.9 4 km SSE of Floriston, California
  2. 1.5 3 km SSE of Floriston, California
  3. 1.7 35km WNW of Truckee, CA
  4. 2.1 1km WNW of Lake Davis, CA
  5. 2.2 4km ESE of Truckee, CA
  6. 1.8 9km SE of Dollar Point, CA
  7. 2.0 19km SW of Loyalton, CA
  8. 3.3 24km WNW of Truckee, CA
  9. 2.9 10km SE of Dollar Point, CA
  10. 2.5 19km NW of Truckee, CA
  11. 1.8 0 km S of Lake Davis, California
  12. 2.1 9km SE of Dollar Point, CA
  13. 2.0 9km SE of Dollar Point, CA
  14. 2.5 9km SE of Dollar Point, CA
  15. 1.9 10km SE of Dollar Point, 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 4.7 on 2021-05-07 — it released about 53,000 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.