QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

0 km NW of Valley Ranch, California

· 10 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 19 kmPlumas County 35 kmNevada County 52 kmPlacer County 77 kmYuba County 84 kmButte County 89 kmStorey County 96 kmCarson City 96 kmEl Dorado County 106 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
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 19 km SSE
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.

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 39.7408, -120.5710. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 19 km (12 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Plumas County, CA 35 km (22 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Nevada County, CA 52 km (32 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Placer County, CA 77 km (48 mi) N of here earthquakes near Placer County
Yuba County, CA 84 km (53 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Yuba County
Butte County, CA 89 km (55 mi) E of here earthquakes near Butte County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 2 km NNE of Portola, California
  2. 2.1 20 km NNW of Truckee, CA
  3. 2.4 16 km SW of Loyalton, CA
  4. 1.5 6 km SE of Beckwourth, California
  5. 2.3 18 km NNW of Truckee, CA
  6. 2.9 0 km NNE of Whitehawk, CA
  7. 2.3 4 km S of Cromberg, CA
  8. 2.4 17 km N of Truckee, CA
  9. 1.5 9 km SSE of Sierraville, California
  10. 1.7 4 km SW of Sierra Brooks, California
  11. 1.7 7 km ENE of East Quincy, California
  12. 2.2 4 km NNW of Spring Garden, CA
  13. 2.2 5 km NNE of East Quincy, CA
  14. 1.5 13 km NE of Lake Davis, California
  15. 3.4 4 km ENE of East Quincy, 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.