QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.9md

87km W of Petrolia, CA

Yes. A magnitude 2.9 earthquake was recorded 87km W of Petrolia, CA, at 5:21 am PDT on 5 April 2023 (12:21 UTC), 27 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.

· 27 km deep · released about 590 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Humboldt County 119 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
27 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Humboldt County, 119 km ENE
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1248 days ago

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 14 km (9 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 590 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 26,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 18,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 590 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 5.8 on 2020-03-09 — about 23,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 5.9 61 km WSW of Ferndale, California · 29 km E of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 near the coast of Northern California · 45 km NNE of this epicentre
  3. 5.5 54 km WSW of Ferndale, California · 42 km ESE of this epicentre
  4. 5.5 60 km WSW of Ferndale, California · 33 km ESE of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 51 km W of Ferndale, California · 42 km ENE of this epicentre

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 40.4590, -125.2968. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Humboldt County, CA 119 km (74 mi) ENE earthquakes near Humboldt County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.6 73 km W of Petrolia, CA
  2. 2.7 46 km W of Petrolia, CA
  3. 3.4 82 km W of Petrolia, CA
  4. 2.9 74 km W of Petrolia, CA
  5. 2.7 107 km W of Petrolia, CA
  6. 2.7 101 km W of Petrolia, CA
  7. 2.6 45 km W of Petrolia, CA
  8. 3.0 114 km W of Petrolia, CA
  9. 2.9 48 km W of Petrolia, CA
  10. 3.4 88 km W of Petrolia, CA
  11. 4.9 98 km W of Petrolia, CA
  12. 2.5 47 km W of Petrolia, CA
  13. 2.8 88 km W of Petrolia, CA
  14. 3.5 70 km W of Petrolia, CA
  15. 3.8 82 km W of Petrolia, 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.

On USGS

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