QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.5md

4 km SSW of Meadow Valley, CA

· 3.7 km deep · released about 170 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Plumas County 23 kmButte County 53 kmSierra County 59 kmNevada County 72 kmYuba County 74 kmPlacer County 98 kmLassen County 98 kmTehama County 103 kmSutter County 111 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 2.5 (md)
Depth
3.7 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Plumas County, 23 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 547 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 170 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 89,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 63,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 170 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 39.9020, -121.0630. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Plumas County, CA 23 km (14 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Butte County, CA 53 km (33 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Butte County
Sierra County, CA 59 km (36 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 72 km (45 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Yuba County, CA 74 km (46 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Yuba County
Placer County, CA 98 km (61 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Placer County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 14 km WNW of Belden, CA
  2. 2.1 3 km NNE of Prattville, CA
  3. 1.6 1 km NE of Prattville, CA
  4. 2.2 20 km SSE of Mineral, CA
  5. 2.7 9 km WNW of Lake Davis, CA
  6. 2.1 2 km ESE of Prattville, CA
  7. 1.6 12 km WSW of Chester, CA
  8. 1.7 4 km SW of Greenville, California
  9. 2.1 2 km SSW of Plumas Eureka, CA
  10. 1.6 5 km E of East Quincy, California
  11. 2.0 7 km S of Canyondam, CA
  12. 1.9 3 km NNE of Almanor, CA
  13. 2.1 1 km SSE of Belden, CA
  14. 2.2 3 km SSE of Canyondam, CA
  15. 2.1 8 km NE of Cromberg, 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 30,000 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.