QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

8 km NE of Topaz, California

· 12 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Douglas County 31 kmAlpine County 32 kmLyon County 45 kmCarson City 61 kmTuolumne County 85 kmStorey County 86 kmMineral County 90 kmEl Dorado County 96 kmMono 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
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Douglas County, 31 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1810 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 38.6652, -119.4355. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Douglas County, NV 31 km (19 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Alpine County, CA 32 km (20 mi) E of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Lyon County, NV 45 km (28 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Carson City, NV 61 km (38 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Tuolumne County, CA 85 km (53 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Storey County, NV 86 km (54 mi) S of here earthquakes near Storey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 29km SE of Markleeville, CA
  2. 1.8 28km SE of Markleeville, CA
  3. 2.3 31km NNW of Bridgeport, CA
  4. 1.6 31km SE of Markleeville, CA
  5. 1.6 30km NE of Dardanelle, CA
  6. 1.8 29km S of Smith Valley, NV
  7. 1.6 32km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  8. 2.0 29km SE of Markleeville, CA
  9. 2.3 7 km WNW of Topaz Ranch Estates, Nevada
  10. 1.7 30km SE of Markleeville, CA
  11. 1.5 28km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  12. 1.6 31km ENE of Dardanelle, CA
  13. 1.5 30km SE of Markleeville, CA
  14. 1.6 30km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  15. 1.5 29km S of Smith Valley, NV

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 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — it released about 5,600,000 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.