Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.8md
Earthquake near McKinleyville, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in McKinleyville in the 24 hours to 5:25 am PST (13:25 UTC). The last one was M 5.0, 139 km (86 mi) WSW, at 8:56 pm PST on 4 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 145 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near McKinleyville
This page: a magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded 20 km (12 mi) west of McKinleyville, CA, at 12:37 am PST on 1 March 2020 (08:37 UTC), 21 km deep. 29 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
USGS: 20km W of McKinleyville, CA
- When
- 12:37 am PST on 1 March 2020 ()
- Where
- 20 km (12 mi) west of McKinleyville, CA · earthquakes near McKinleyville
- Magnitude
- M 2.8 (md)
- Depth
- 21 km below the surface
- Felt
- 29 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
- Nearest
- Humboldt County, 43 km SE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Little Salmon fault, 19 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2369 days ago
Earthquake alerts for McKinleyville, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near McKinleyville, CA. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 18 km (11 mi) from the epicentre. In McKinleyville, 20 km away, the estimate is intensity II (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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Eureka, Bayview, Arcata, Westhaven-Moonstone, Myrtletown, Cutten.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 480 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 32,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.8 about 480 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 1,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.2 The 1980 Eureka, California Earthquake · 21 km NNE of this epicentre
- 6.5 The 1932 Eureka, California Earthquake · 24 km S of this epicentre
- 6.5 The 2010 Eureka, California Earthquake · 44 km SW of this epicentre
- 6.4 Northwest of Eureka, California · 15 km WNW of this epicentre
- 6.4 The 1954 Eureka-Arcata, California Earthquake · 39 km ESE of this epicentre
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 40.9393, -124.3393. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humboldt County, CA | 43 km (27 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Humboldt County |
| Del Norte County, CA | 95 km (59 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Del Norte County |
| Trinity County, CA | 108 km (67 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Trinity County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
44 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.8 15km WNW of Willow Creek, CA
- 2.4 20km NW of Bayview, CA
- 2.7 1km NNE of Humboldt Hill, CA
- 2.8 11km NW of Eureka, CA
- 1.8 18km WNW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.6 32km WNW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.0 7km N of Ferndale, CA
- 2.5 10km WNW of Humboldt Hill, CA
- 2.2 8km SSE of Ferndale, CA
- 2.2 4km NW of Humboldt Hill, CA
- 2.3 1km ENE of Humboldt Hill, CA
- 3.0 30km WNW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.3 25km WNW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.2 12km E of Blue Lake, CA
- 2.3 24km W of Humboldt Hill, 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
- 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.