Earthquake near Lake Wildwood, CA

A magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 9 km (5 mi) W of Lake Wildwood, CA, at 2:09 pm PDT on 27 September 2018 (21:09 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Penn Valley, Loma Rica, Beale Air Force Base, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Linda.

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 36 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.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 420,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 300,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 27× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 36 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 5.9 West of Downieville, California · 39 km NE of this epicentre Jun 23, 1909
2. 5.7 The 1975 Oroville, California Earthquake · 30 km NW of this epicentre Aug 1, 1975
3. 5.2 4 km E of Palermo, California · 27 km NW of this epicentre Aug 2, 1975
4. 5.1 5 km ENE of Palermo, California · 28 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 2, 1975
5. 5.0 Nevada County, California · 39 km ENE of this epicentre Mar 3, 1909

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 39.2380, -121.3017. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.8 8 km NNE of Oroville East, CA 07:09 UTC
2. 1.7 8 km NNE of Oroville East, CA 05:32 UTC
3. 2.5 12 km WSW of Lincoln, CA 11:01 UTC
4. 2.3 13 km NNE of Rio Linda, CA 04:15 UTC
5. 2.8 11 km WSW of Lincoln, CA 23:39 UTC
6. 2.2 13 km WSW of Lincoln, CA 12:28 UTC
7. 2.1 12 km W of La Porte, CA 05:48 UTC
8. 2.1 12 km NW of Roseville, CA 07:57 UTC
9. 1.8 11 km SW of Lincoln, CA 05:32 UTC
10. 2.2 12 km WSW of Lincoln, CA 17:51 UTC
11. 2.1 10km N of Oroville, CA 19:59 UTC
12. 2.0 5km SSE of Oroville East, CA 02:41 UTC
13. 4.2 5km S of Oroville East, CA 01:41 UTC
14. 1.8 10km N of Oroville, CA 19:18 UTC
15. 2.0 10km N of Oroville, CA 19:59 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 03:59 UTC. 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.