160 km W of Ferndale, California

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 160 km W of Ferndale, California at 02:18 UTC on 2021-12-05, 10 km deep. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

2021-12-05 02:18 UTC · 10 km deep · released about 950 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area

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: 2021-12-05 02:18 UTC
Magnitude: M 3.0 (ml)
Depth: 10 km below the surface
Felt: 3 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 1608 days ago · we first saw it 1608 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 35 km (22 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 950 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 350,000× the energy of this one
Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11,000× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 3.0 about 950 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 6.6 on 2016-12-08 — about 250,000 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

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Aftershocks so far

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

2.8 163 km W of Ferndale, California 18:34 UTC
2.5 163 km WNW of Indianola, California 01:54 UTC
2.8 171 km W of Ferndale, California 01:23 UTC
2.5 140 km W of Ferndale, California 21:20 UTC
2.7 135 km WNW of Petrolia, CA 01:18 UTC
2.6 190 km W of Ferndale, California 05:48 UTC
2.7 161 km W of Ferndale, California 02:57 UTC
2.9 183 km W of Ferndale, California 12:50 UTC
2.7 131 km WNW of Petrolia, CA 17:34 UTC
2.9 129 km WNW of Petrolia, CA 13:43 UTC
4.2 135 km WNW of Petrolia, CA 13:10 UTC
4.4 145 km WNW of Petrolia, CA 11:36 UTC
2.7 169 km W of Ferndale, California 22:38 UTC
2.9 123 km WNW of Petrolia, CA 22:18 UTC
4.3 170 km W of Ferndale, California 16:27 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 10:22 UTC. 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.