QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

4 km SW of Sierra Brooks, California

· 8.4 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sierra County 24 kmNevada County 57 kmPlumas County 65 kmStorey County 65 kmCarson City 67 kmPlacer County 74 kmEl Dorado County 95 kmDouglas County 96 kmYuba County 102 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
8.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sierra County, 24 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 965 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 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 39.6122, -120.2475. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Sierra County, CA 24 km (15 mi) E of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 57 km (35 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Plumas County, CA 65 km (40 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Storey County, NV 65 km (40 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Carson City, NV 67 km (41 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Carson City
Placer County, CA 74 km (46 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

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

  1. 1.5 5 km SE of Floriston, California
  2. 2.6 1 km WNW of C-Road, CA
  3. 2.2 4 km NNE of Cold Springs, Nevada
  4. 2.3 19 km SW of Whitehawk, CA
  5. 2.4 10 km NNW of Truckee, CA
  6. 1.6 12 km NNW of Virginia City, Nevada
  7. 2.6 18 km W of Truckee, CA
  8. 2.1 10 km ENE of Cromberg, CA
  9. 1.8 21 km WNW of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA
  10. 2.1 7 km ENE of Loyalton, CA
  11. 2.8 7 km NE of Cold Springs, Nevada
  12. 2.1 3 km SW of Tahoe Vista, CA
  13. 1.5 12 km SW of Doyle, California
  14. 2.2 30 km W of Truckee, CA
  15. 2.5 5 km NW of Johnsville, 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 27,000 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.