QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

5 km W of Loyalton, California

· 11 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 21 kmPlumas County 57 kmNevada County 57 kmStorey County 71 kmCarson City 74 kmPlacer County 76 kmYuba County 100 kmEl Dorado County 100 kmDouglas 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 21 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1091 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 39.6670, -120.3032. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 21 km (13 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Plumas County, CA 57 km (36 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Nevada County, CA 57 km (36 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Storey County, NV 71 km (44 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 74 km (46 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Placer County, CA 76 km (47 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Placer County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 6 km NNE of Verdi, California
  2. 2.2 5 km NNE of Verdi, California
  3. 1.6 5 km N of Verdi, Nevada
  4. 2.2 5 km SSE of Floriston, California
  5. 1.7 2 km NNE of Portola, California
  6. 2.2 11 km NNE of Kings Beach, CA
  7. 2.1 20 km NNW of Truckee, CA
  8. 2.2 11 km NNE of Tahoe Vista, CA
  9. 2.5 11 km NNE of Tahoe Vista, CA
  10. 1.6 5 km SSE of Floriston, California
  11. 2.4 16 km SW of Loyalton, CA
  12. 1.5 6 km SE of Beckwourth, California
  13. 2.3 18 km NNW of Truckee, CA
  14. 2.9 0 km NNE of Whitehawk, CA
  15. 2.3 4 km S of Cromberg, 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.