QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

2km SSE of Canyondam, CA

· 4.5 km deep · released about 780 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Plumas County 28 kmButte County 71 kmLassen County 73 kmSierra County 79 kmNevada County 99 kmTehama County 99 kmYuba County 101 kmShasta County 107 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
4.5 km below the surface
Felt
8 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Plumas County, 28 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1156 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 8 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 780 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 19,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 14,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 780 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 40.1568, -121.0657. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Plumas County, CA 28 km (17 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Butte County, CA 71 km (44 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Butte County
Lassen County, CA 73 km (45 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Sierra County, CA 79 km (49 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 99 km (61 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Tehama County, CA 99 km (62 mi) E of here earthquakes near Tehama 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. 1.8 1 km ENE of Almanor, CA
  2. 2.4 4 km WSW of Hamilton Branch, CA
  3. 2.1 10 km SW of Almanor, CA
  4. 2.5 2 km NNE of Canyondam, CA
  5. 1.9 4 km NW of Almanor, CA
  6. 2.9 1 km ESE of Almanor, CA
  7. 2.2 1 km N of Almanor, CA
  8. 2.1 1 km NNE of Almanor, CA
  9. 1.9 1 km N of Prattville, CA
  10. 2.1 1 km NNE of Almanor, CA
  11. 2.7 2 km NNE of Almanor, CA
  12. 2.3 3 km N of Almanor, CA
  13. 2.2 3 km NNE of Almanor, CA
  14. 2.5 2 km NNE of Almanor, CA
  15. 1.8 4 km NNW of Hamilton Branch, 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 5.5 on 2023-05-11 — it released about 6,500 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.