3km SSE of Somes Bar, CA

2023-03-12 22:33 UTC · 35 km deep · released about 630 lb 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: 2023-03-12 22:33 UTC
Magnitude: M 2.9 (md)
Depth: 35 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Del Norte County, 62 km NW
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 1226 days ago · we first saw it 1226 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 630 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 24,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 17,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.5× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.9 about 630 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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 41.3515, -123.4668. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Del Norte County, CA	62 km (38 mi)	SE of here	earthquakes near Del Norte County
Humboldt County, CA	81 km (51 mi)	NNE of here	earthquakes near Humboldt County
Siskiyou County, CA	82 km (51 mi)	WSW of here	earthquakes near Siskiyou County
Trinity County, CA	84 km (52 mi)	NNW of here	earthquakes near Trinity County
Josephine County, OR	115 km (72 mi)	S of here	earthquakes near Josephine County
Jackson County, OR	135 km (84 mi)	SSW of here	earthquakes near Jackson County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1.9 12 km ESE of Willow Creek, CA 19:50 UTC
2.2 10 km NNW of Willow Creek, CA 20:00 UTC
1.9 16 km E of Willow Creek, CA 05:05 UTC
2.4 20 km SE of Klamath, CA 23:35 UTC
2.1 17 km ENE of Willow Creek, CA 02:08 UTC
2.0 13 km E of Willow Creek, CA 14:21 UTC
2.1 27 km ENE of Willow Creek, CA 04:22 UTC
2.6 30 km ESE of Somes Bar, CA 06:10 UTC
2.5 24 km SSE of Somes Bar, CA 23:18 UTC
2.3 13 km E of Weitchpec, CA 23:54 UTC
2.7 33 km SSE of Somes Bar, CA 12:36 UTC
2.4 20 km ENE of Willow Creek, CA 18:12 UTC
2.3 21 km E of Willow Creek, CA 18:34 UTC
2.4 8 km SSE of Weitchpec, CA 20:38 UTC
2.6 27 km ENE of Willow Creek, CA 05:03 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:22 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 4.3 on 2023-01-20 — it released about 120 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.