QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

3 km NNE of Saint Helena, CA

· 10 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Napa County 12 kmSonoma County 41 kmYolo County 51 kmSolano County 54 kmMarin County 59 kmLake County 69 kmColusa County 74 kmContra Costa County 81 kmSutter County 86 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Napa County, 12 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 587 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. 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 38.5337, -122.4577. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Napa County, CA 12 km (7 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Napa County
Sonoma County, CA 41 km (25 mi) E of here earthquakes near Sonoma County
Yolo County, CA 51 km (32 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Yolo County
Solano County, CA 54 km (34 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Solano County
Marin County, CA 59 km (37 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Marin County
Lake County, CA 69 km (43 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Lake County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 8 km ENE of Lower Lake, CA
  2. 2.6 1 km ESE of The Geysers, CA
  3. 1.7 2 km WNW of Anderson Springs, CA
  4. 1.8 2 km NNW of The Geysers, CA
  5. 1.5 8 km NNW of The Geysers, CA
  6. 1.6 3 km WSW of Anderson Springs, CA
  7. 1.8 2 km N of The Geysers, CA
  8. 1.5 3 km WSW of Anderson Springs, CA
  9. 2.2 10 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  10. 1.5 8 km WNW of Cobb, CA
  11. 1.8 6 km NNW of The Geysers, CA
  12. 2.3 2 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  13. 1.8 8 km NNW of The Geysers, CA
  14. 1.6 4 km W of Cobb, CA
  15. 1.7 2 km NNE of The Geysers, 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 5.0 on 2016-12-14 — it released about 92,000 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.