QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2ml

2 km ESE of Prattville, CA

· 6.2 km deep · released about 1,900 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Plumas County 35 kmLassen County 72 kmButte County 72 kmSierra County 87 kmTehama County 94 kmShasta County 99 kmYuba County 105 kmNevada County 105 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 3.2 (ml)
Depth
6.2 km below the surface
Felt
14 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Plumas County, 35 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 26 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 14 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,900 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,900× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,600× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,900 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2× 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.

Where

Epicentre 40.2040, -121.1347. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Plumas County, CA 35 km (22 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Lassen County, CA 72 km (44 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Butte County, CA 72 km (45 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Butte County
Sierra County, CA 87 km (54 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Tehama County, CA 94 km (58 mi) E of here earthquakes near Tehama County
Shasta County, CA 99 km (61 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Shasta County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 12 km WSW of Chester, CA
  2. 1.5 12 km WSW of Chester, CA
  3. 2.3 2 km ENE of Keddie, CA
  4. 1.6 9 km ENE of Mineral, CA
  5. 2.0 3 km N of Canyondam, CA
  6. 1.7 5 km NE of Almanor, CA
  7. 1.9 3 km NNE of Prattville, CA
  8. 1.8 2 km SW of Canyondam, CA
  9. 2.0 3 km NE of Prattville, CA
  10. 2.3 2 km N of Almanor, CA
  11. 2.1 3 km WSW of Canyondam, CA
  12. 1.9 3 km N of Canyondam, CA
  13. 1.8 17 km ENE of Mineral, CA
  14. 1.6 18 km ENE of Mineral, CA
  15. 1.7 17 km ENE of Mineral, 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 2,600 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.