QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.0ml

33 km N of Benton, California

· 7.8 km deep · released about 27 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Mono County 42 kmMineral County 44 kmEsmeralda County 83 kmLyon County 119 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 2.0 (ml)
Depth
7.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Mono County, 42 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 62 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 27 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 560,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 390,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 35× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 27 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 38.1205, -118.4700. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Mono County, CA 42 km (26 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Mono County
Mineral County, NV 44 km (28 mi) S of here earthquakes near Mineral County
Esmeralda County, NV 83 km (51 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Esmeralda County
Lyon County, NV 119 km (74 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Lyon County
Alpine County, CA 129 km (80 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Douglas County, NV 132 km (82 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Douglas County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 20 km SSW of Mina, Nevada
  2. 2.3 29 km ENE of Benton, California
  3. 1.6 6 km SW of Mina, Nevada
  4. 1.8 30 km SSE of Mina, Nevada
  5. 2.5 28 km SE of Bodie, CA
  6. 2.0 30 km SSE of Mina, Nevada
  7. 2.6 30 km SSE of Mina, Nevada
  8. 1.7 29 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  9. 1.7 36 km N of Benton, California
  10. 1.6 13 km SSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  11. 1.8 37 km NNE of Toms Place, CA
  12. 1.6 25 km SSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  13. 2.1 33 km N of Benton, California

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 5.6 on 2016-12-28 — it released about 280,000 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.