QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

14 km WSW of Chester, CA

· 8.1 km deep · released about 7.1 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Plumas County 56 kmButte County 69 kmTehama County 73 kmShasta County 79 kmLassen County 82 kmSierra County 106 kmYuba County 110 kmGlenn County 113 kmNevada 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
8.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Plumas County, 56 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1028 days ago

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

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.

Where

Epicentre 40.2602, -121.3853. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Plumas County, CA 56 km (35 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Butte County, CA 69 km (43 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Butte County
Tehama County, CA 73 km (46 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Tehama County
Shasta County, CA 79 km (49 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Shasta County
Lassen County, CA 82 km (51 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Sierra County, CA 106 km (66 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Sierra 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. 2.1 12 km SE of Manton, CA
  2. 1.7 12 km SE of Manton, CA
  3. 2.0 7 km NNE of Mineral, CA
  4. 2.3 6 km WNW of Belden, CA
  5. 2.5 5 km NW of Belden, CA
  6. 2.3 5 km NW of Belden, CA
  7. 2.2 5 km NW of Belden, CA
  8. 2.9 6 km NW of Belden, CA
  9. 2.6 5 km NW of Belden, CA
  10. 2.2 5 km NW of Belden, CA
  11. 2.7 5 km NW of Belden, CA
  12. 2.2 5 km NW of Belden, CA
  13. 4.4 6 km NW of Belden, CA
  14. 4.1 6 km WNW of Belden, CA
  15. 2.0 3 km ENE of Canyondam, 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 710,000 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.