QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.7md

2km NW of Chico, CA

· 16 km deep · released about 340 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Butte County 23 kmGlenn County 50 kmTehama County 53 kmYuba County 69 kmColusa County 72 kmSutter County 80 kmPlumas County 92 kmLake County 105 kmNevada County 105 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 2.7 (md)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
15 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Butte County, 23 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1234 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 15 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 340 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 45,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 32,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.8× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.7 about 340 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 39.7498, -121.8515. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Butte County, CA 23 km (14 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Butte County
Glenn County, CA 50 km (31 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Glenn County
Tehama County, CA 53 km (33 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Tehama County
Yuba County, CA 69 km (43 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Yuba County
Colusa County, CA 72 km (45 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Colusa County
Sutter County, CA 80 km (50 mi) N of here earthquakes near Sutter County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 17 km E of Willows, CA
  2. 2.3 16 km ESE of Willows, CA
  3. 2.2 5 km WNW of Magalia, CA
  4. 1.8 8 km NNE of Oroville East, CA
  5. 1.7 8 km NNE of Oroville East, CA
  6. 1.8 19 km ESE of Willows, CA
  7. 2.7 14 km E of Willows, CA
  8. 2.1 15 km ESE of Willows, CA
  9. 2.2 5 km ESE of Hamilton City, CA
  10. 2.7 7 km NNE of Hamilton City, CA
  11. 2.4 6 km NNE of Hamilton City, CA
  12. 2.2 6 km NNE of Hamilton City, CA
  13. 2.3 9 km E of Los Molinos, CA
  14. 1.8 17 km WNW of Belden, CA
  15. 1.7 30 km SW of Mineral, 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 4.2 on 2022-07-23 — it released about 200 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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