Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 4.5mw
90km W of Ferndale, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 4.5 (mw)
- Depth
- 16 km below the surface
- Felt
- 164 reports · strongest reported intensity V
- Measured shaking
- intensity II (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Nearest
- Humboldt County, 118 km E
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2972 days ago
This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 164 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 76 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 2,200× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 99× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 70× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 4.5 about 76 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 160× 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 40.6770, -125.3247. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humboldt County, CA | 118 km (73 mi) | W of here | earthquakes near Humboldt County |
| Del Norte County, CA | 164 km (102 mi) | SW of here | earthquakes near Del Norte County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
55 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.8 84km W of Petrolia, CA
- 3.7 67km WNW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.8 74km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.5 84km W of Petrolia, CA
- 3.0 86km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.6 47km W of Ferndale, CA
- 3.1 77km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.8 95km W of Trinidad, CA
- 2.7 84km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.8 86km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.7 67km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.5 51km W of Ferndale, CA
- 4.3 73km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.5 68km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.9 125km W of Petrolia, 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 2017-07-29 — it released about 8.2 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
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.