QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

Earthquake near Kelseyville, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Kelseyville in the 24 hours to 9:25 am PST (17:25 UTC). The last one was M 2.6, 22 km (14 mi) SSE, at 4:44 pm PST on 8 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Kelseyville

This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 10 km (6 mi) south of Kelseyville, CA, at 1:31 pm PDT on 15 July 2023 (20:31 UTC), less than 1 km deep.

USGS: 10 km S of Kelseyville, CA

51 km (32 mi) NNW of Santa Rosa, CA · 129 km (80 mi) NNW of San Francisco, CA

1:31 pm PDT, Jul 15, 2023 · · 0.7 km deep · released about 7.1 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lake County 26 kmSonoma County 41 kmColusa County 62 kmNapa County 62 kmMendocino County 79 kmYolo County 86 kmGlenn County 88 kmMarin County 94 kmSutter County 101 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
1:31 pm PDT on 15 July 2023 ()
Where
10 km (6 mi) south of Kelseyville, CA · earthquakes near Kelseyville
Magnitude
M 1.6 (md)
Depth
0.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Lake County, 26 km NNE
Nearest mapped fault
Big Valley fault, 9 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1214 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Kelseyville, 10 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Clear Lake Riviera, Soda Bay, Cobb, Cloverdale, Lakeport, Clearlake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.1 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.1 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 5.1 on 2016-08-10 — about 180,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.2 6 km ESE of Talmage, California · 33 km NW 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 38.8900, -122.8525. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Lake County, CA 26 km (16 mi) NNE earthquakes near Lake County
Sonoma County, CA 41 km (26 mi) S earthquakes near Sonoma County
Colusa County, CA 62 km (39 mi) ENE earthquakes near Colusa County
Napa County, CA 62 km (39 mi) SE earthquakes near Napa County
Mendocino County, CA 79 km (49 mi) NW earthquakes near Mendocino County
Yolo County, CA 86 km (53 mi) ESE earthquakes near Yolo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 6 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  2. 2.7 6 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  3. 1.6 3 km WNW of Anderson Springs, CA
  4. 1.9 12 km SE of Cloverdale, CA
  5. 1.5 2 km W of Anderson Springs, CA
  6. 1.6 6 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  7. 1.5 7 km WNW of Cobb, CA
  8. 2.0 6 km W of Cobb, CA
  9. 1.6 9 km WNW of Cobb, CA
  10. 2.4 5 km WNW of Cobb, CA
  11. 1.5 8 km W of Cobb, CA
  12. 2.1 8 km WSW of Calistoga, CA
  13. 1.6 0 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  14. 1.5 15 km ENE of Clearlake, CA
  15. 1.8 6 km NW of The Geysers, 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.