Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.2ml
3km ESE of Fortuna, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.2 (ml)
- Depth
- 17 km below the surface
- Felt
- 362 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
- Measured shaking
- intensity III (ShakeMap)
- Nearest
- Humboldt County, 21 km NE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1091 days ago
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 362 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 1.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 160,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,200× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,100× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.2 about 1.1 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.2× 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 40.5880, -124.1238. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humboldt County, CA | 21 km (13 mi) | SW of here | earthquakes near Humboldt County |
| Trinity County, CA | 85 km (53 mi) | W of here | earthquakes near Trinity County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
58 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.5 10km NW of Petrolia, CA
- 1.8 17km ESE of Rio Dell, CA
- 2.8 7km SW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.2 20km WSW of Petrolia, CA
- 3.0 9km WSW of Petrolia, CA
- 2.6 31km WNW of Petrolia, CA
- 1.7 16km SE of Rio Dell, CA
- 2.3 8km SW of Petrolia, CA
- 1.9 7km SW of Ferndale, CA
- 1.8 40km WSW of Hayfork, CA
- 4.5 10km WSW of Ferndale, CA
- 1.8 14km WSW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.5 14km S of Ferndale, CA
- 2.4 14km S of Ferndale, CA
- 1.7 13km WSW of Ferndale, 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 6.4 on 2022-12-20 — it released about 57,000 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.