Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5md
Earthquake near Kelseyville, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Kelseyville in the 24 hours to 3:32 am PST (11:32 UTC). The last one was M 2.6, 22 km (14 mi) SSE, at 4:44 pm PST on 8 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Kelseyville
This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 8 km (5 mi) south-southwest of Kelseyville, CA, at 5:08 am PST on 29 January 2021 (13:08 UTC), 4.7 km deep.
USGS: 8km SSW of Kelseyville, CA
54 km (34 mi) NNW of Santa Rosa, CA · 132 km (82 mi) NNW of San Francisco, CA
- When
- 5:08 am PST on 29 January 2021 ()
- Where
- 8 km (5 mi) south-southwest of Kelseyville, CA · earthquakes near Kelseyville
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (md)
- Depth
- 4.7 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Lake County, 25 km NNE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Big Valley 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 2110 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Kelseyville, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Kelseyville, 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 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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Kelseyville, 8 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: Soda Bay, Clear Lake Riviera, Lakeport, Cloverdale, Cobb, North Lakeport.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 5.7 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,600,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.7 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 5.1 on 2016-08-10 — about 230,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.2 6 km ESE of Talmage, California · 29 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 38.9143, -122.8807. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake County, CA | 25 km (15 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Sonoma County, CA | 43 km (27 mi) | S | earthquakes near Sonoma County |
| Colusa County, CA | 63 km (39 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Napa County, CA | 66 km (41 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Napa County |
| Mendocino County, CA | 75 km (47 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Mendocino County |
| Glenn County, CA | 87 km (54 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Glenn County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
59 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.8 1km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.8 3km SE of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 3km SW of Cobb, CA
- 2.2 8km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.7 8km NE of Windsor, CA
- 1.6 8km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 2km N of The Geysers, CA
- 1.7 1km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.5 4km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.8 6km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.5 5km E of Clearlake Oaks, CA
- 1.6 8km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.2 10km ESE of Hidden Valley Lake, CA
- 2.1 5km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.7 9km WNW of The Geysers, 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.