QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.1mw

35 km SW of Ferndale, California

· 24 km deep · released about 22 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Humboldt County 66 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 4.1 (mw)
Depth
24 km below the surface
Felt
149 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Humboldt County, 66 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3481 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 149 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 22 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 7,700× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 340× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 240× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.1 about 22 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 46× more

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 40.3462, -124.5465. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Humboldt County, CA 66 km (41 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Humboldt County
Mendocino County, CA 139 km (86 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Mendocino County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 4 km SW of Scotia, California
  2. 1.7 50 km SW of Ferndale, California
  3. 2.3 40 km WSW of Ferndale, California
  4. 2.0 17 km SW of Scotia, California
  5. 2.7 47 km SW of Ferndale, California
  6. 4.0 near the coast of Northern California
  7. 2.0 31 km SSW of Ferndale, California
  8. 2.0 32 km SW of Scotia, California
  9. 2.5 32 km SW of Scotia, California
  10. 3.9 32 km SW of Scotia, California
  11. 1.9 14 km SW of Scotia, California
  12. 2.7 45 km SW of Ferndale, California
  13. 3.1 44 km SW of Ferndale, California
  14. 2.2 40 km SW of Ferndale, California
  15. 2.8 38 km WSW of Ferndale, 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 4.4 on 2016-01-02 — it released about 3.1 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.