QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9ml

6 km NNW of Verdi, California

· 9.2 km deep · released about 21 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 41 kmStorey County 47 kmCarson City 54 kmNevada County 70 kmPlumas County 81 kmPlacer County 82 kmDouglas County 84 kmLyon County 96 kmEl Dorado County 98 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 1.9 (ml)
Depth
9.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 41 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1265 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 21 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 710,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 45× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 21 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 39.5787, -120.0465. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 41 km (25 mi) E of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Storey County, NV 47 km (29 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 54 km (33 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Nevada County, CA 70 km (43 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Plumas County, CA 81 km (50 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Placer County, CA 82 km (51 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Placer 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. 2.1 5 km ESE of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  2. 2.3 4 km E of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  3. 2.6 4 km E of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  4. 2.0 4 km E of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  5. 3.1 5 km E of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  6. 2.2 4 km ESE of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  7. 3.4 4 km E of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  8. 2.3 7 km S of Cold Springs, Nevada
  9. 1.6 Nevada
  10. 1.8 6 km SSE of Cold Springs, Nevada
  11. 1.9 7 km S of Cold Springs, Nevada
  12. 2.5 6 km S of Cold Springs, Nevada
  13. 2.0 Nevada
  14. 1.5 5 km SSE of Floriston, California
  15. 1.6 5 km SSE of Floriston, California

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 13,000 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.