Earthquake near Willow Creek, CA

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 27 km (17 mi) from the epicentre. In Willow Creek, 19 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.

Likely felt in: Willow Creek 19 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,000 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 330,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 15,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 10,000× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 1,000 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 480 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 The 1954 Eureka-Arcata, California Earthquake · 36 km W of this epicentre Dec 21, 1954
2. 5.8 Near Eureka, California · 45 km W of this epicentre Aug 18, 1908
3. 5.6 15 km SW of Burnt Ranch, California · 17 km SW of this epicentre Aug 20, 1927
4. 5.6 26 km NNW of Willow Creek, California · 45 km NW of this epicentre Feb 13, 2012
5. 5.4 3 km NNW of Burnt Ranch, California · 3 km NW of this epicentre Apr 30, 2008

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 40.8165, -123.4697. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 14km ENE of Hydesville, CA 23:26 UTC
2. 2.2 21km NE of Hydesville, CA 16:07 UTC
3. 2.9 13km NE of Hydesville, CA 15:33 UTC
4. 2.6 14 km ESE of Pine Hills, California 15:33 UTC
5. 2.2 13km NE of Hydesville, CA 14:54 UTC
6. 2.7 21km SE of Blue Lake, CA 14:10 UTC
7. 2.8 20km SE of Blue Lake, CA 12:04 UTC
8. 1.7 18km E of Hydesville, CA 11:29 UTC
9. 2.3 14 km NE of Hydesville, CA 10:51 UTC
10. 2.2 17km ENE of Hydesville, CA 10:50 UTC
11. 2.6 17km ENE of Hydesville, CA 10:48 UTC
12. 2.1 36km W of Hayfork, CA 13:27 UTC
13. 2.5 24km SE of Blue Lake, CA 19:33 UTC
14. 2.1 28km WNW of Hayfork, CA 02:16 UTC
15. 2.3 15km E of Willow Creek, CA 13:30 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 07:48 UTC. 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.