Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 4.6mw
50km W of Petrolia, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 4.6 (mw)
- Depth
- 13 km below the surface
- Felt
- 218 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
- Measured shaking
- intensity IV (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Nearest
- Humboldt County, 87 km ENE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1660 days ago
This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 218 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 110 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 1,500× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 68× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 48× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 4.6 about 110 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 230× more
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 40.3847, -124.8643. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humboldt County, CA | 87 km (54 mi) | WSW of here | earthquakes near Humboldt 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.
- 2.0 8km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.8 90km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.1 23km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.6 15km NW of Petrolia, CA
- 2.6 17km SW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.6 16km WSW of Petrolia, CA
- 2.6 7km W of Petrolia, CA
- 1.8 10km WSW of Petrolia, CA
- 3.1 84km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.8 63km WNW of Petrolia, CA
- 1.9 42km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.3 12km SSW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.5 8km WSW of Petrolia, CA
- 2.4 9km SW of Petrolia, CA
- 2.7 58km W of Petrolia, 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 5.8 on 2020-03-09 — it released about 61 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
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.