Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8md
Earthquake near Brooktrails, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Brooktrails in the 24 hours to 3:51 am PST (11:51 UTC). The last one was M 4.0, 38 km (23 mi) E, at 5:01 am PDT on 28 October 2026, estimated intensity III (weak) in town; 14 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Brooktrails
This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 13 km (8 mi) north-northeast of Brooktrails, CA, at 1:37 pm PST on 17 January 2021 (21:37 UTC), 9.2 km deep.
USGS: 13km NNE of Brooktrails, CA
- When
- 1:37 pm PST on 17 January 2021 ()
- Where
- 13 km (8 mi) north-northeast of Brooktrails, CA · earthquakes near Brooktrails
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (md)
- Depth
- 9.2 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Mendocino County, 17 km SW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Maacama fault, 8 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 2115 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Brooktrails, CA
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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 minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 10 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Brooktrails, 13 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: Willits, Laytonville, Covelo.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 17 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 900,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 640,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 57× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 17 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 4.3 on 2019-04-29 — about 5,400 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.9 9 km S of Leggett, California · 42 km NW 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 39.5555, -123.3343. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mendocino County, CA | 17 km (10 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Mendocino County |
| Lake County, CA | 71 km (44 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Glenn County, CA | 80 km (50 mi) | E | earthquakes near Glenn County |
| Colusa County, CA | 103 km (64 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Tehama County, CA | 113 km (71 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Tehama County |
| Sonoma County, CA | 120 km (74 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Sonoma County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
58 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.3 4km NE of Laytonville, CA
- 1.7 5km NNW of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.6 4km ENE of Laytonville, CA
- 1.6 1km W of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.7 16km NE of Willits, CA
- 3.9 15km NNW of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 2.0 12km NNE of Brooktrails, CA
- 1.7 8km ESE of Willits, CA
- 1.5 6km E of Redwood Valley, CA
- 1.5 4km ESE of Laytonville, CA
- 1.5 8km NNW of Redwood Valley, CA
- 1.5 12km N of Brooktrails, CA
- 1.7 4km S of Redwood Valley, CA
- 1.8 2km N of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.5 12km WNW of Upper Lake, 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.