QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.0mw

Earthquake near Santa Rosa, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Santa Rosa in the 24 hours to 12:42 am PST (08:42 UTC). The last one was M 1.9, 5 km (3 mi) NE, at 2:01 pm PDT on 23 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Santa Rosa

This page: a magnitude 4.0 earthquake was recorded 12 km (8 mi) southeast of Santa Rosa, CA, at 3:30 pm PST on 14 December 2025 (23:30 UTC), 3.1 km deep. 1,174 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

USGS: 6 km W of Glen Ellen, CA

12 km (7 mi) SE of Santa Rosa, CA

3:30 pm PST, Dec 14, 2025 · · 3.1 km deep · released about 17 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Napa County 28 kmSonoma County 33 kmMarin County 38 kmSolano County 59 kmYolo County 70 kmContra Costa County 76 kmSan Francisco County 81 kmLake County 83 kmColusa County 95 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
3:30 pm PST on 14 December 2025 ()
Where
12 km (8 mi) southeast of Santa Rosa, CA · earthquakes near Santa Rosa
Magnitude
M 4.0 (mw)
Depth
3.1 km below the surface
Felt
1,174 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Tsunami
USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
Nearest
Napa County, 28 km ENE
Nearest mapped fault
Bennett Valley fault, 1 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 53 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 99 km (62 mi) from the epicentre. In Santa Rosa, 12 km away, the estimate is intensity IV (light). 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.

Likely felt in: Kenwood 7 km, intensity IV · Rohnert Park 9 km, intensity IV · Agua Caliente 11 km, intensity IV · Santa Rosa 12 km, intensity IV · Petaluma 16 km, intensity III · Calistoga 23 km, intensity III · Angwin 26 km, intensity III · Windsor 27 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 17 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 10,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 450× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 320× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.0 about 17 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 35× more

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 4.5 on 2023-06-03 — about 4.3 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 31 km SE of this epicentre
  2. 5.3 3 km E of Bloomfield, California · 19 km WSW of this epicentre
  3. 5.3 Northern California · 20 km WSW 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 38.3730, -122.6040. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Napa County, CA 28 km (18 mi) ENE earthquakes near Napa County
Sonoma County, CA 33 km (20 mi) WNW earthquakes near Sonoma County
Marin County, CA 38 km (24 mi) SSW earthquakes near Marin County
Solano County, CA 59 km (37 mi) ESE earthquakes near Solano County
Yolo County, CA 70 km (43 mi) ENE earthquakes near Yolo County
Contra Costa County, CA 76 km (47 mi) SE earthquakes near Contra Costa County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 3 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  2. 1.7 2 km E of The Geysers, CA
  3. 1.6 2 km NE of The Geysers, CA
  4. 2.0 2 km N of The Geysers, CA
  5. 1.9 3 km E of The Geysers, CA
  6. 2.3 2 km N of The Geysers, CA
  7. 2.0 3 km SSW of Cobb, CA
  8. 1.8 5 km ENE of Vallejo, CA
  9. 2.1 2 km N of The Geysers, CA
  10. 2.2 3 km SSW of Cobb, CA
  11. 1.6 2 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  12. 1.6 6 km WSW of Kenwood, CA
  13. 1.7 11 km ESE of Hidden Valley Lake, CA
  14. 2.3 3 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  15. 1.8 6 km NNW of Inverness, 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.