QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8md

Earthquake near Hidden Valley Lake, CA

USGS: 9 km E of Hidden Valley Lake, California

46 km (28 mi) NNE of Santa Rosa, CA · 114 km (71 mi) N of San Francisco, CA

12:51 am PDT, Sep 6, 2016 · · 8.7 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Napa County 34 kmLake County 43 kmColusa County 45 kmYolo County 49 kmSonoma County 52 kmSutter County 69 kmSolano County 74 kmMarin County 88 kmGlenn County 89 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
12:51 am PDT on 6 September 2016 ()
Where
10 km (6 mi) E of Hidden Valley Lake, CA · earthquakes near Hidden Valley Lake
Magnitude
M 1.8 (md)
Depth
8.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Napa County, 34 km SSE
Nearest mapped fault
Hunting Creek-Berryessa fault system, 8 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3521 days ago

A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 10 km (6 mi) E of Hidden Valley Lake, CA, at 12:51 am PDT on 6 September 2016 (07:51 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Middletown, Lower Lake, Clearlake, Cobb, Angwin, Calistoga.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 65× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 38.8025, -122.4445. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Napa County, CA 34 km (21 mi) SSE earthquakes near Napa County
Lake County, CA 43 km (27 mi) NW earthquakes near Lake County
Colusa County, CA 45 km (28 mi) NNE earthquakes near Colusa County
Yolo County, CA 49 km (30 mi) ESE earthquakes near Yolo County
Sonoma County, CA 52 km (32 mi) SW earthquakes near Sonoma County
Sutter County, CA 69 km (43 mi) ENE earthquakes near Sutter County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 Northern California
  2. 1.9 7 km W of Cobb, California
  3. 2.3 7 km W of Cobb, California
  4. 2.3 9 km WNW of Cobb, California
  5. 2.0 7 km W of Cobb, California
  6. 2.1 8 km W of Cobb, California
  7. 2.1 4 km S of Cobb, California
  8. 2.1 10 km WNW of Cobb, CA
  9. 2.2 5 km SW of Cobb, California
  10. 1.9 8 km W of Cobb, California
  11. 2.0 4 km SSW of Cobb, California
  12. 1.7 5 km SSW of Cobb, California
  13. 2.2 4 km SW of Cobb, California
  14. 1.5 6 km WNW of Cobb, California
  15. 2.0 2 km SSW of Cobb, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.