QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

15 km NE of Potter Valley, California

· 3.1 km deep · released about 18 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Mendocino County 38 kmLake County 42 kmGlenn County 54 kmColusa County 71 kmTehama County 101 kmSonoma County 101 kmNapa County 118 kmSutter County 120 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
3.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Mendocino County, 38 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3286 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 18 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 840,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 53× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 18 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 39.4327, -122.9958. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Mendocino County, CA 38 km (24 mi) E of here earthquakes near Mendocino County
Lake County, CA 42 km (26 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Lake County
Glenn County, CA 54 km (34 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Glenn County
Colusa County, CA 71 km (44 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Colusa County
Tehama County, CA 101 km (63 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Tehama County
Sonoma County, CA 101 km (63 mi) N of here earthquakes near Sonoma County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 14km SSE of Lake Pillsbury, CA
  2. 1.6 14km SSE of Lake Pillsbury, CA
  3. 2.0 17km NW of Lake Pillsbury, CA
  4. 1.5 6km ESE of Willits, CA
  5. 1.5 18km NE of Upper Lake, CA
  6. 2.0 14km SE of Talmage, CA
  7. 1.9 4km NW of Redwood Valley, CA
  8. 2.0 7km SSE of Laytonville, CA
  9. 1.6 13km W of Lake Pillsbury, CA
  10. 1.6 6km SE of Lake Pillsbury, CA
  11. 2.1 5km WNW of Covelo, CA
  12. 1.5 18km NE of Upper Lake, CA
  13. 1.8 12km N of Brooktrails, CA
  14. 1.5 18km NE of Upper Lake, CA
  15. 1.8 19km NE of Upper Lake, CA

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 5.1 on 2016-08-10 — it released about 72,000 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.