Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6md
Earthquake near Guerneville, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Guerneville in the 24 hours to 8:20 pm PST (04:20 UTC). The last one was M 3.0, 38 km (24 mi) NNE, at 11:06 pm PDT on 14 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 1 felt report to USGS. Every earthquake near Guerneville
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 4 km (3 mi) northeast of Guerneville, CA, at 11:51 pm PDT on 16 March 2026 (06:51 UTC), 3.4 km deep.
USGS: 4 km NE of Guerneville, CA
96 km (60 mi) NNW of San Francisco, CA · 24 km (15 mi) WNW of Santa Rosa, CA
- When
- 11:51 pm PDT on 16 March 2026 ()
- Where
- 4 km (3 mi) northeast of Guerneville, CA · earthquakes near Guerneville
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (md)
- Depth
- 3.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Sonoma County, 3 km E
- Nearest mapped fault
- Rodgers Creek fault, 16 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 235 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Guerneville, 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 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Guerneville, 4 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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Monte Rio, Forestville, Camp Meeker, Healdsburg, Windsor, Graton.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 7.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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 5.0 on 2016-12-14 — about 130,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.3 3 km E of Bloomfield, California · 28 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.3 Northern California · 26 km SSE 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 38.5308, -122.9643. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sonoma County, CA | 3 km (2 mi) | E | earthquakes near Sonoma County |
| Napa County, CA | 56 km (35 mi) | E | earthquakes near Napa County |
| Marin County, CA | 57 km (35 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Marin County |
| Lake County, CA | 67 km (42 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Lake County |
| San Francisco County, CA | 90 km (56 mi) | S | earthquakes near San Francisco County |
| Yolo County, CA | 94 km (58 mi) | E | earthquakes near Yolo County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
57 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.8 3 km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.3 6 km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.7 1 km WSW of Anderson Springs, CA
- 1.6 2 km NNW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.1 8 km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.5 7 km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.3 6 km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.9 6 km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 2 km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.8 7 km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.9 8 km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.6 11 km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 2.1 3 km NE of The Geysers, CA
- 1.5 6 km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 6 km WNW of Cobb, 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.