QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

3 km E of Canyondam, California

· 7.0 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Plumas County 27 kmLassen County 69 kmButte County 75 kmSierra County 79 kmNevada County 100 kmTehama County 103 kmYuba County 104 kmShasta County 108 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Plumas County, 27 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3355 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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.

Where

Epicentre 40.1766, -121.0264. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Plumas County, CA 27 km (17 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Lassen County, CA 69 km (43 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Butte County, CA 75 km (47 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Butte County
Sierra County, CA 79 km (49 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Nevada County, CA 100 km (62 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Nevada County
Tehama County, CA 103 km (64 mi) E of here earthquakes near Tehama County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 7 km NE of Susanville, California
  2. 1.8 3km SE of Chester, CA
  3. 3.4 3km SE of Chester, CA
  4. 1.6 4 km S of Canyondam, California
  5. 2.3 4km SSE of Canyondam, CA
  6. 2.3 5km ESE of Chester, CA
  7. 1.7 1 km NW of Paxton, California
  8. 1.6 6km NNE of Plumas Eureka, CA
  9. 2.5 4km NNW of Plumas Eureka, CA
  10. 1.8 1km NNW of Spring Garden, CA
  11. 2.0 2km NW of Paxton, CA
  12. 1.8 1km WSW of Canyondam, CA
  13. 2.1 13km SE of Mineral, CA
  14. 1.8 3km NNE of Spring Garden, CA
  15. 1.5 2 km ESE of Greenville, California

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.