Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.0md
Earthquake near Williams, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Williams in the 24 hours to 4:17 am PST (12:17 UTC). The last one was M 4.0, 79 km (49 mi) WNW, at 5:01 am PDT on 28 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 14 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Williams
This page: a magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 19 km (12 mi) west-southwest of Williams, CA, at 9:04 am PDT on 17 March 2018 (16:04 UTC), 2.8 km deep.
USGS: 19km WSW of Williams, CA
- When
- 9:04 am PDT on 17 March 2018 ()
- Where
- 19 km (12 mi) west-southwest of Williams, CA · earthquakes near Williams
- Magnitude
- M 2.0 (md)
- Depth
- 2.8 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Colusa County, 13 km ENE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Great Valley thrust fault system, 7 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 3157 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Williams, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Williams, CA. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 15 km (9 mi) from the epicentre. In Williams, 19 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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: Maxwell, Clearlake Oaks, Clearlake, Arbuckle.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 26 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 580,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 410,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 36× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.0 about 26 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 50,000 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 39.1138, -122.3668. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colusa County, CA | 13 km (8 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Lake County, CA | 33 km (20 mi) | W | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Glenn County, CA | 54 km (34 mi) | N | earthquakes near Glenn County |
| Sutter County, CA | 58 km (36 mi) | E | earthquakes near Sutter County |
| Yolo County, CA | 63 km (39 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Yolo County |
| Napa County, CA | 68 km (42 mi) | S | earthquakes near Napa County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
33 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.5 6km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.8 6km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.7 5km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.5 4km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.7 4km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.7 9km E of Hidden Valley Lake, CA
- 2.7 6km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.0 1km E of The Geysers, CA
- 1.5 5km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.9 9km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.9 4km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 17km SE of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.6 3km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.6 17km NNE of Nice, CA
- 2.0 6km WNW of Cobb, 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
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.