16km WSW of Weitchpec, CA

2023-01-20 08:01 UTC · 25 km deep · released about 37 tons of TNT

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: 2023-01-20 08:01 UTC
Magnitude: M 4.3 (mw)
Depth: 25 km below the surface
Felt: 504 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking: intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert: green
Nearest: Humboldt County, 47 km S
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 1256 days ago · we first saw it 1256 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 504 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 37 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 4,600× the energy of this one
Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 200× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 140× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 4.3 about 37 tons of TNT
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 78× 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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 41.1280, -123.8753. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Humboldt County, CA	47 km (29 mi)	N of here	earthquakes near Humboldt County
Del Norte County, CA	70 km (43 mi)	S of here	earthquakes near Del Norte County
Trinity County, CA	83 km (52 mi)	NW of here	earthquakes near Trinity County
Siskiyou County, CA	123 km (77 mi)	WSW of here	earthquakes near Siskiyou County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

2.1 5 km ENE of Willow Creek, CA 04:20 UTC
2.5 17 km SSE of Klamath, CA 20:41 UTC
3.0 17 km SSE of Klamath, CA 17:03 UTC
2.0 11 km ESE of Blue Lake, CA 13:43 UTC
2.0 4 km ENE of Blue Lake, CA 11:54 UTC
2.1 18 km S of Willow Creek, CA 12:02 UTC
2.3 3 km ESE of Willow Creek, CA 13:07 UTC
2.4 19 km ENE of Willow Creek, CA 14:54 UTC
2.5 14 km NW of Trinidad, CA 02:18 UTC
4.0 9 km SE of Blue Lake, CA 06:39 UTC
2.3 3 km N of Eureka, CA 23:11 UTC
2.3 7 km N of Eureka, CA 18:33 UTC
2.0 7 km NNW of Eureka, CA 05:13 UTC
2.6 21 km SSE of Somes Bar, CA 02:20 UTC
2.4 26 km SW of Klamath, CA 02:36 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:55 UTC. 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 4.8 on 2016-07-21 — it released about 6.7 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.