QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.4md

Earthquake near McKinleyville, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in McKinleyville in the 24 hours to 2:31 am PST (10:31 UTC). The last one was M 5.0, 139 km (86 mi) WSW, at 8:56 pm PST on 4 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 145 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near McKinleyville

This page: a magnitude 2.4 earthquake was recorded 43 km (27 mi) north of McKinleyville, CA, at 7:36 pm PDT on 17 April 2024 (02:36 UTC), 28 km deep.

USGS: 26 km SW of Klamath, CA

7:36 pm PDT, Apr 17, 2024 · · 28 km deep · released about 100 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near McKinleyville Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Del Norte County 49 kmHumboldt County 72 kmTrinity County 116 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
7:36 pm PDT on 17 April 2024 ()
Where
43 km (27 mi) north of McKinleyville, CA · earthquakes near McKinleyville
Magnitude
M 2.4 (md)
Depth
28 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Del Norte County, 49 km NNE
Nearest mapped fault
Bald Mountain-Big Lagoon fault, 13 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 577 days ago

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

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In McKinleyville, 43 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 100 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 150,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 110,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 9.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 100 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 4.3 on 2024-01-23 — about 930 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.2 The 1980 Eureka, California Earthquake · 25 km SSW of this epicentre
  2. 6.5 52 km WNW of Big Lagoon, California · 46 km W of this epicentre
  3. 6.4 Northwest of Eureka, California · 46 km SW of this epicentre
  4. 5.6 26 km NNW of Willow Creek, California · 38 km ESE of this epicentre
  5. 5.0 3 km SSE of McKinleyville, California · 46 km S 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 41.3305, -124.1643. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Del Norte County, CA 49 km (30 mi) NNE earthquakes near Del Norte County
Humboldt County, CA 72 km (45 mi) SSE earthquakes near Humboldt County
Trinity County, CA 116 km (72 mi) SE earthquakes near Trinity County
Josephine County, OR 127 km (79 mi) NNE earthquakes near Josephine County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 20 km SE of Klamath, CA
  2. 1.6 11 km NE of Blue Lake, CA
  3. 2.3 4 km ENE of Trinidad, CA
  4. 2.5 14 km WSW of McKinleyville, CA
  5. 2.4 14 km WSW of McKinleyville, CA
  6. 1.9 12 km NE of Westhaven-Moonstone, CA
  7. 2.6 15 km WSW of McKinleyville, CA
  8. 2.4 38 km WNW of Trinidad, CA
  9. 2.2 14 km NNW of Trinidad, CA
  10. 3.2 28 km NW of Trinidad, CA
  11. 2.4 8 km SSE of Weitchpec, CA
  12. 1.8 8 km ESE of Westhaven-Moonstone, CA
  13. 3.2 4 km NNE of Blue Lake, CA
  14. 2.4 14 km SSW of Crescent City, CA
  15. 2.3 17 km NNW of Trinidad, 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.