Earthquake near Pine Hills, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 38 km (24 mi) from the epicentre. In Pine Hills, 5 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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.

Likely felt in: Humboldt Hill 9 km, intensity III · Eureka 10 km, intensity III · Bayside 13 km, intensity III · Fortuna 16 km, intensity III · Ferndale 23 km, intensity II · McKinleyville 24 km, intensity II · Rio Dell 26 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,100 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 300,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 13,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 9,400× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 1,100 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 4.8 on 2016-07-21 — about 440 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 24 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.2 The 1980 Eureka, California Earthquake · 45 km NNW of this epicentre Nov 8, 1980
2. 7.2 The 1992 Petrolia, California Earthquake · 46 km SSW of this epicentre Apr 25, 1992
3. 6.5 The 1932 Eureka, California Earthquake · 17 km W of this epicentre Jun 6, 1932
4. 6.4 Northwest of Eureka, California · 46 km NW of this epicentre Apr 23, 1906
5. 6.4 The 1954 Eureka-Arcata, California Earthquake · 21 km NE of this epicentre Dec 21, 1954

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 40.7312, -124.0890. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.0 11km S of Ferndale, CA 18:47 UTC
2. 3.8 16km ESE of Pine Hills, CA 17:19 UTC
3. 2.5 7km ESE of Hydesville, CA 19:01 UTC
4. 2.6 6km ESE of Hydesville, CA 19:00 UTC
5. 2.1 9km ENE of Hydesville, CA 14:40 UTC
6. 2.5 20km NW of Petrolia, CA 23:12 UTC
7. 2.0 9km S of Rio Dell, CA 09:23 UTC
8. 2.6 16km WNW of Petrolia, CA 09:13 UTC
9. 1.8 15km E of Hydesville, CA 07:57 UTC
10. 1.9 2km ESE of Ferndale, CA 03:21 UTC
11. 2.0 31km W of Hayfork, CA 23:57 UTC
12. 2.0 31km W of Hayfork, CA 05:15 UTC
13. 4.2 19km NW of Petrolia, CA 04:55 UTC
14. 2.0 8km ENE of Petrolia, CA 20:26 UTC
15. 2.3 8km SSE of Ferndale, CA 01:37 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 07:41 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.