QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9mh

6km NNE of Hamilton City, CA

· 17 km deep · released about 680 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Butte County 36 kmGlenn County 41 kmTehama County 42 kmColusa County 71 kmYuba County 81 kmSutter County 88 kmLake County 100 kmPlumas County 102 kmShasta County 108 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 2.9 (mh)
Depth
17 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Butte County, 36 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1802 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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 39.7918, -121.9967. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Butte County, CA 36 km (23 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Butte County
Glenn County, CA 41 km (25 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Glenn County
Tehama County, CA 42 km (26 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Tehama County
Colusa County, CA 71 km (44 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Colusa County
Yuba County, CA 81 km (50 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Yuba County
Sutter County, CA 88 km (54 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Sutter County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 6 km NNE of Hamilton City, CA
  2. 2.2 6 km NNE of Hamilton City, CA
  3. 2.4 7 km ESE of Red Bluff, CA
  4. 2.6 6 km ESE of Red Bluff, CA
  5. 2.3 9 km E of Los Molinos, CA
  6. 2.7 12 km E of Red Bluff, CA
  7. 1.7 30 km SW of Mineral, CA
  8. 3.1 14 km NNE of Maxwell, CA
  9. 2.3 14 km NNE of Maxwell, CA
  10. 2.1 17 km ESE of Willows, CA
  11. 2.1 6 km W of Magalia, CA
  12. 2.3 7 km WNW of Hamilton City, CA
  13. 2.4 27 km SW of Mineral, CA
  14. 2.5 8 km E of Orland, CA
  15. 2.7 17 km ESE of Willows, 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

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