QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

3km NW of Oroville East, CA

· 12 km deep · released about 44 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Butte County 18 kmYuba County 32 kmSutter County 57 kmNevada County 67 kmColusa County 75 kmPlumas County 77 kmGlenn County 78 kmSierra County 84 kmPlacer County 84 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Butte County, 18 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2847 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 44 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 340,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 240,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 44 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 39.5278, -121.4970. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Butte County, CA 18 km (11 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Butte County
Yuba County, CA 32 km (20 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Yuba County
Sutter County, CA 57 km (36 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Sutter County
Nevada County, CA 67 km (42 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Colusa County, CA 75 km (46 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Colusa County
Plumas County, CA 77 km (48 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Plumas County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.6 13km WSW of Durham, CA
  2. 1.9 10km ENE of Loma Rica, CA
  3. 1.6 17km WSW of Durham, CA
  4. 1.7 10km N of Thermalito, CA
  5. 1.8 1km NNE of Chico, CA
  6. 2.1 6km S of Bucks Lake, CA
  7. 2.1 8km W of La Porte, CA
  8. 1.9 10km NNW of Oroville, CA
  9. 1.8 14km N of Colusa, CA
  10. 2.5 15km ENE of Willows, CA
  11. 2.2 16km N of Colusa, CA
  12. 2.5 4km SE of Concow, CA
  13. 1.9 10km N of Oroville, CA
  14. 1.9 10km SSE of Hamilton City, CA
  15. 3.0 1km NNW of Chico, 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.