QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

7 km WNW of Topaz Ranch Estates, Nevada

· 11 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Douglas County 16 kmAlpine County 24 kmLyon County 44 kmCarson City 46 kmStorey County 75 kmEl Dorado County 82 kmTuolumne County 89 kmAmador County 99 kmPlacer 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Douglas County, 16 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 158 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 1,300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 930,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 83× 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 38.7625, -119.5851. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Douglas County, NV 16 km (10 mi) S of here earthquakes near Douglas County
Alpine County, CA 24 km (15 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Lyon County, NV 44 km (28 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Carson City, NV 46 km (28 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Carson City
Storey County, NV 75 km (47 mi) S of here earthquakes near Storey County
El Dorado County, CA 82 km (51 mi) E of here earthquakes near El Dorado County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 4 km SW of Walker, California
  2. 1.6 13 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  3. 2.0 14 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  4. 2.0 6 km SSW of Smith Valley, Nevada
  5. 1.7 3 km SE of East Valley, Nevada
  6. 2.7 3 km W of Walker, CA
  7. 1.9 15 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  8. 1.9 14 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  9. 2.3 15 km SE of Markleeville, CA
  10. 2.3 15 km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  11. 2.0 2 km SW of Walker, CA
  12. 1.6 5 km ENE of Johnson Lane, Nevada
  13. 1.8 6 km ESE of Markleeville, CA
  14. 2.2 18 km NE of Dardanelle, CA
  15. 1.9 20 km E of Markleeville, 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 6.0 on 2021-07-08 — it released about 2,600,000 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.