QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3ml

7 km S of Cold Springs, Nevada

· 7.2 km deep · released about 85 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Storey County 42 kmSierra County 48 kmCarson City 54 kmNevada County 78 kmDouglas County 84 kmPlumas County 85 kmPlacer County 90 kmLyon County 93 kmEl Dorado County 104 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 2.3 (ml)
Depth
7.2 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Storey County, 42 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 983 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 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 39.6135, -119.9633. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Storey County, NV 42 km (26 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Sierra County, CA 48 km (30 mi) E of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Carson City, NV 54 km (34 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Nevada County, CA 78 km (48 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Douglas County, NV 84 km (52 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Plumas County, CA 85 km (53 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Plumas County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 6 km ESE of Spanish Springs, Nevada
  2. 1.7 9 km SE of Doyle, California
  3. 1.5 5 km W of Loyalton, California
  4. 1.5 20 km WSW of Wadsworth, Nevada
  5. 2.4 5 km W of Loyalton, CA
  6. 1.6 Northern California
  7. 2.2 3 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  8. 2.5 4 km NNE of Dollar Point, CA
  9. 2.0 4 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  10. 2.1 16 km NNW of Truckee, CA
  11. 2.5 4 km N of Dollar Point, CA
  12. 2.1 3 km WSW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  13. 3.2 4 km N of Dollar Point, CA
  14. 1.9 13 km NNE of Virginia City, Nevada
  15. 1.8 Nevada

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 3,300 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.