QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.4md

Earthquake near Clearlake Oaks, CA

USGS: 15 km ENE of Clearlake Oaks, California

12:33 pm PDT, Sep 26, 2016 · · -0.8 km deep · released about 130 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lake County 21 kmColusa County 25 kmGlenn County 59 kmNapa County 66 kmYolo County 69 kmSutter County 69 kmSonoma County 72 kmMendocino County 90 kmButte County 101 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
12:33 pm PDT on 26 September 2016 ()
Where
16 km (10 mi) ENE of Clearlake Oaks, CA · earthquakes near Clearlake Oaks
Magnitude
M 2.4 (md)
Depth
-0.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Lake County, 21 km W
Nearest mapped fault
Bartlett Springs fault system, 4 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 2.4 earthquake was recorded 16 km (10 mi) ENE of Clearlake Oaks, CA, at 12:33 pm PDT on 26 September 2016 (19:33 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Clearlake, Lower Lake, Clear Lake Riviera, Soda Bay.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 130 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 120,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 83,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 7.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 130 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

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 5.1 on 2016-08-10 — about 10,000 times the energy of this one.

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 39.0800, -122.5042. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Lake County, CA 21 km (13 mi) W earthquakes near Lake County
Colusa County, CA 25 km (16 mi) ENE earthquakes near Colusa County
Glenn County, CA 59 km (37 mi) N earthquakes near Glenn County
Napa County, CA 66 km (41 mi) SSE earthquakes near Napa County
Yolo County, CA 69 km (43 mi) SE earthquakes near Yolo County
Sutter County, CA 69 km (43 mi) E 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. 1.8 2 km WNW of Cobb, California
  2. 2.4 7 km S of Cobb, California
  3. 1.9 4 km W of Cobb, California
  4. 1.6 7 km WSW of Cobb, California
  5. 2.4 7 km WSW of Cobb, California
  6. 1.9 5 km WNW of Cobb, California
  7. 1.6 9 km W of Cobb, California
  8. 1.5 7 km W of Cobb, California
  9. 1.8 9 km WNW of Cobb, California
  10. 2.1 8 km W of Cobb, California
  11. 2.0 Northern California
  12. 1.7 7 km W of Cobb, California
  13. 1.7 2 km SSW of Cobb, California
  14. 1.5 5 km WNW of Cobb, California
  15. 1.6 8 km W 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.