QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4ml

137 km W of Petrolia, CA

Yes. A magnitude 3.4 earthquake was recorded 137 km W of Petrolia, CA, at 10:30 pm PST on 27 January 2024 (06:30 UTC), 10 km deep. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

· 10 km deep · released about 1.8 tons of TNT

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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 3.4 (ml)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 957 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 56 km (35 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 1.8 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 92,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,100× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.8 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.8× more

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 6.6 on 2016-12-08 — about 65,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

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 40.3502, -125.8990. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.6 156 km W of Ferndale, California
  2. 2.7 157 km W of Ferndale, California
  3. 2.9 102 km W of Petrolia, CA
  4. 2.8 91 km W of Petrolia, CA
  5. 3.8 163 km W of Ferndale, California
  6. 2.8 137 km WNW of Petrolia, CA
  7. 3.1 152 km W of Ferndale, California
  8. 2.3 126 km WNW of Petrolia, CA
  9. 2.6 154 km W of Ferndale, California
  10. 2.5 135 km W of Ferndale, California
  11. 3.0 130 km WNW of Petrolia, CA
  12. 3.2 155 km W of Ferndale, California
  13. 2.7 156 km W of Ferndale, California
  14. 2.7 154 km W of Ferndale, California
  15. 2.5 152 km WSW of Ferndale, California

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.