Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7md
Earthquake near Chester, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Chester in the 24 hours to 10:12 am PST (18:12 UTC). The last one was M 2.1, 17 km (11 mi) SE, at 8:09 am PDT on 29 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Chester
This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 15 km (9 mi) northwest of Chester, CA, at 3:37 pm PST on 21 February 2025 (23:37 UTC), 9.4 km deep.
USGS: 15 km NW of Chester, CA
81 km (50 mi) NNE of Chico, CA
- When
- 3:37 pm PST on 21 February 2025 ()
- Where
- 15 km (9 mi) northwest of Chester, CA · earthquakes near Chester
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (md)
- Depth
- 9.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Plumas County, 64 km SE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Almanor fault, 10 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 618 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Chester, CA
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 7 km (4 mi) from the epicentre. In Chester, 15 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 9.6 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 1,600,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 99× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.6 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 5.5 on 2023-05-11 — about 520,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.7 2 km NNE of Canyondam, California · 34 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.5 15 km NE of Mineral, California · 11 km NW 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 40.3942, -121.3618. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plumas County, CA | 64 km (40 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Plumas County |
| Shasta County, CA | 71 km (44 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Shasta County |
| Lassen County, CA | 72 km (45 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Lassen County |
| Tehama County, CA | 80 km (49 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Tehama County |
| Butte County, CA | 84 km (52 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Butte County |
| Sierra County, CA | 116 km (72 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Sierra 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.
- 2.1 4 km SW of Greenville, CA
- 1.7 2 km N of Canyondam, CA
- 2.1 1 km SSE of Belden, CA
- 1.6 2 km E of Prattville, CA
- 2.0 17 km NNE of Hamilton Branch, CA
- 2.4 14 km WNW of Belden, CA
- 2.1 3 km NNE of Prattville, CA
- 1.6 1 km NE of Prattville, CA
- 2.0 23 km SE of Burney, CA
- 2.2 20 km SSE of Mineral, CA
- 2.0 23 km SE of Burney, CA
- 1.8 16 km ESE of Mineral, CA
- 1.8 15 km NNW of Chester, CA
- 2.1 2 km ESE of Prattville, CA
- 1.6 12 km WSW of Chester, 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
- 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.