QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.0md

Earthquake near Hamilton City, CA

USGS: 14 km S of Hamilton City, CA

24 km (15 mi) SW of Chico, CA · 126 km (78 mi) NNW of Sacramento, CA

12:47 pm PDT, Sep 30, 2026 · · 25 km deep · released about 33 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Glenn County 32 kmButte County 37 kmColusa County 52 kmTehama County 60 kmSutter County 70 kmYuba County 70 kmLake County 83 kmYolo County 104 kmPlumas County 111 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
12:47 pm PDT on 30 September 2026 ()
Where
14 km (9 mi) S of Hamilton City, CA · earthquakes near Hamilton City
Magnitude
M 2.0 (md)
Depth
25 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Glenn County, 32 km W
Nearest mapped fault
Great Valley thrust fault system, 23 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2 days ago

A magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 14 km (9 mi) S of Hamilton City, CA, at 12:47 pm PDT on 30 September 2026 (19:47 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Willows, Durham, Orland, Chico.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 33 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 450,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 320,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 29× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 33 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.7 The 1975 Oroville, California Earthquake · 46 km ESE 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 39.6137, -122.0303. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Glenn County, CA 32 km (20 mi) W earthquakes near Glenn County
Butte County, CA 37 km (23 mi) E earthquakes near Butte County
Colusa County, CA 52 km (32 mi) SSW earthquakes near Colusa County
Tehama County, CA 60 km (37 mi) NNW earthquakes near Tehama County
Sutter County, CA 70 km (44 mi) SSE earthquakes near Sutter County
Yuba County, CA 70 km (44 mi) ESE earthquakes near Yuba County

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

Aftershocks so far

1 earthquake has been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 2.4 16 km ENE of Willows, 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.