QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

Earthquake near Santa Rosa, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Santa Rosa in the 24 hours to 2:22 am PST (10:22 UTC). The last one was M 1.9, 5 km (3 mi) NE, at 2:01 pm PDT on 23 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Santa Rosa

This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 37 km (23 mi) east-northeast of Santa Rosa, CA, at 5:59 pm PDT on 15 March 2017 (00:59 UTC), 1.1 km deep.

USGS: 13 km NE of Rutherford, California

85 km (53 mi) N of San Francisco, CA · 26 km (16 mi) N of Napa, CA

5:59 pm PDT, Mar 15, 2017 · · 1.1 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Santa Rosa Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Napa County 3 kmYolo County 39 kmSolano County 44 kmSonoma County 54 kmMarin County 66 kmColusa County 72 kmLake County 74 kmContra Costa County 75 kmSutter County 76 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
5:59 pm PDT on 15 March 2017 ()
Where
37 km (23 mi) east-northeast of Santa Rosa, CA · earthquakes near Santa Rosa
Magnitude
M 1.5 (md)
Depth
1.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Napa County, 3 km SSW
Nearest mapped fault
Green Valley fault, 5 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 3529 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 10 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Santa Rosa, 37 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Angwin, Deer Park, Saint Helena, Yountville, Calistoga, Kenwood.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 4.2 on 2017-02-21 — about 8,800 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 35 km S of this epicentre
  2. 5.4 South of Elmira, California · 44 km SE of this epicentre
  3. 5.3 3 km E of Bloomfield, California · 50 km WSW of this epicentre

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 38.5342, -122.3065. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Napa County, CA 3 km (2 mi) SSW earthquakes near Napa County
Yolo County, CA 39 km (24 mi) ENE earthquakes near Yolo County
Solano County, CA 44 km (27 mi) SE earthquakes near Solano County
Sonoma County, CA 54 km (33 mi) W earthquakes near Sonoma County
Marin County, CA 66 km (41 mi) SW earthquakes near Marin County
Colusa County, CA 72 km (45 mi) N earthquakes near Colusa County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 6 km SSW of Cobb, California
  2. 1.5 5 km SW of Cobb, California
  3. 1.9 4 km SSW of Cobb, California
  4. 2.2 3 km S of Cobb, California
  5. 2.6 5 km SW of Cobb, California
  6. 1.5 0 km SE of Green Valley, California
  7. 1.7 4 km S of Cobb, California
  8. 1.6 3 km NE of Vallejo, California
  9. 1.5 6 km S of Cobb, California
  10. 1.7 Northern California
  11. 1.8 7 km S of Cobb, California
  12. 1.5 2 km SW of Cobb, California
  13. 1.5 5 km SW of Cobb, California
  14. 1.5 4 km SSW of Cobb, California
  15. 2.1 5 km SW 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.