Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7md
21 km NW of Petrolia, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (md)
- Depth
- 20 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Humboldt County, 55 km ENE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 888 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 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,300,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 930,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 83× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 40.4485, -124.4772. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humboldt County, CA | 55 km (34 mi) | WSW of here | earthquakes near Humboldt County |
| Trinity County, CA | 117 km (73 mi) | W of here | earthquakes near Trinity County |
| Mendocino County, CA | 143 km (89 mi) | NW of here | earthquakes near Mendocino County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
58 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.7 18 km WSW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.0 13 km of Petrolia, CA
- 1.6 16 km SE of Petrolia, CA
- 1.6 18 km W of Petrolia, CA
- 1.7 9 km WSW of Ferndale, CA
- 1.7 11 km SW of Ferndale, CA
- 1.6 12 km WNW of Petrolia, CA
- 1.8 17 km W of Petrolia, CA
- 1.7 20 km SSE of Rio Dell, CA
- 2.3 8 km NW of Petrolia, CA
- 1.5 22 km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.9 23 km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.0 12 km W of Petrolia, CA
- 1.6 23 km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.4 18 km WNW of Bayview, 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 6.4 on 2022-12-20 — it released about 10,000,000 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.