QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 5.8mww

175 km W of Ferndale, California

Yes. A magnitude 5.8 earthquake was recorded 175 km W of Ferndale, California at 16:39 UTC on 2018-01-25, 8.9 km deep. 216 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

· 8.9 km deep · released about 7.6 kilotons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N
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 5.8 (mww)
Depth
8.9 km below the surface
Felt
216 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Tsunami
USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1655 days ago

This was a moderate earthquake. Shaking at this size can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 310 km (193 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.6 kilotons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 6.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Ridgecrest, California 2019 M 7.1 89× the energy of this one
  2. Loma Prieta, California 1989 M 6.9 45× the energy of this one
  3. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 5.8 about 7.6 kilotons of TNT
  5. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 this one released 1.4× more
  6. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 16,000× 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 6.6 on 2016-12-08 — about 16 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

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 40.4556, -126.3332. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 201 km W of Ferndale, California
  2. 3.2 200 km W of Ferndale, California
  3. 2.8 164 km W of Ferndale, California
  4. 2.7 219 km W of Ferndale, California
  5. 2.8 157 km W of Ferndale, California
  6. 2.9 off the coast of Northern California
  7. 2.7 167 km W of Ferndale, California
  8. 3.0 165 km W of Ferndale, California
  9. 3.0 off the coast of Northern California
  10. 2.7 186 km W of Ferndale, California
  11. 2.9 210 km W of Ferndale, California
  12. 2.8 189 km W of Ferndale, California
  13. 3.1 136km W of Petrolia, CA
  14. 2.0 145 km W of Ferndale, California
  15. 4.4 216 km W of Ferndale, 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.