QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4mw

3km SE of Chester, CA

· 13 km deep · released about 1.7 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Plumas County 46 kmLassen County 68 kmButte County 77 kmShasta County 89 kmTehama County 90 kmSierra County 98 kmYuba County 114 kmNevada County 116 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 3.4 (mw)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
27 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Plumas County, 46 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2806 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 27 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.7 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,200× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.7 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.5× 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 40.2895, -121.1992. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Plumas County, CA 46 km (29 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Lassen County, CA 68 km (42 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Butte County, CA 77 km (48 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Butte County
Shasta County, CA 89 km (55 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Shasta County
Tehama County, CA 90 km (56 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Tehama County
Sierra County, CA 98 km (61 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Sierra County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 5 km E of Canyondam, California
  2. 2.1 5km ENE of Canyondam, CA
  3. 2.5 6km SW of Almanor, CA
  4. 2.9 6km SW of Almanor, CA
  5. 1.7 2km NE of Almanor, CA
  6. 1.7 4km WSW of Canyondam, CA
  7. 1.6 7km ESE of East Shore, CA
  8. 2.2 2km NNE of Indian Falls, CA
  9. 1.5 6 km SW of Canyondam, California
  10. 2.2 3km SE of Belden, CA
  11. 1.5 3 km SSW of Greenville, California
  12. 1.5 8km NNW of Chester, CA
  13. 2.9 3km NNE of Almanor, CA
  14. 2.3 4km NNE of Almanor, CA
  15. 1.9 13km NNE of Mineral, 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.

On USGS

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