QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4mw

5km WNW of Hamilton Branch, CA

· 8.1 km deep · released about 1.7 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Plumas County 43 kmLassen County 65 kmButte County 80 kmShasta County 92 kmTehama County 94 kmSierra County 96 kmYuba County 115 kmNevada County 115 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
8.1 km below the surface
Felt
68 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Plumas County, 43 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2732 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 68 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 99,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,400× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,100× 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 3.6× 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 40.2920, -121.1503. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Plumas County, CA 43 km (27 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Lassen County, CA 65 km (40 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Butte County, CA 80 km (49 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Butte County
Shasta County, CA 92 km (57 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Shasta County
Tehama County, CA 94 km (58 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Tehama County
Sierra County, CA 96 km (60 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

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

  1. 1.8 6km WSW of Belden, CA
  2. 2.6 15km SE of Mineral, CA
  3. 1.8 15km ENE of Mineral, CA
  4. 2.1 16km NW of Chester, CA
  5. 1.9 9km SSE of Mineral, CA
  6. 2.0 13km NNE of Mineral, CA
  7. 1.6 7km NNE of Mineral, CA
  8. 1.7 16km WSW of Almanor, CA
  9. 1.6 19km WNW of Belden, CA
  10. 1.5 13km NNE of Mineral, CA
  11. 1.6 18km WSW of Almanor, CA
  12. 1.7 6km SE of Viola, CA
  13. 1.5 4km WSW of Hamilton Branch, CA
  14. 2.2 2km ENE of Belden, CA
  15. 1.5 2km SW of Canyondam, 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.