QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

15km W of McKinleyville, CA

· 23 km deep · released about 88 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Humboldt County 38 kmDel Norte County 96 kmTrinity County 103 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
23 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Humboldt County, 38 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2619 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 88 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 170,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 120,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 88 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 40.9200, -124.2807. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Humboldt County, CA 38 km (24 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Humboldt County
Del Norte County, CA 96 km (59 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Del Norte County
Trinity County, CA 103 km (64 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Trinity County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 24km ENE of Hydesville, CA
  2. 2.0 11km SSW of Ferndale, CA
  3. 2.2 57km WNW of Bayview, CA
  4. 1.7 14km ESE of Pine Hills, CA
  5. 2.4 11km SSW of Ferndale, CA
  6. 1.9 9km W of Rio Dell, CA
  7. 2.0 11km SSW of Ferndale, CA
  8. 1.5 10km SSW of Ferndale, CA
  9. 1.8 16km NW of Bayview, CA
  10. 2.8 11km NW of Ferndale, CA
  11. 1.6 11km SSW of Ferndale, CA
  12. 1.9 8km S of Ferndale, CA
  13. 1.9 8km S of Ferndale, CA
  14. 2.8 26km W of Humboldt Hill, CA
  15. 2.2 33km WNW of Bayview, 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 4.8 on 2016-07-21 — it released about 5,600 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.