Earthquake near Birch Bay, WA

USGS: 9 km SW of Birch Bay, Washington

28 km (17 mi) WNW of Bellingham, WA · 142 km (88 mi) NNW of Seattle, WA

10:45 am PST, Jan 16, 2017 · 2017-01-16 18:45 UTC · 18 km deep · released about 37 lb of TNT

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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: 10:45 am PST on 16 January 2017 (2017-01-16 18:45 UTC)
Where: 9 km (6 mi) SW of Birch Bay, WA · earthquakes near Birch Bay
Magnitude: M 2.1 (ml)
Depth: 18 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: San Juan County, 44 km SSW
Nearest mapped fault: Sandy Point fault, 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 3545 days ago · we first saw it 3545 days ago

A magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 9 km (6 mi) SW of Birch Bay, WA, at 10:45 am PST on 16 January 2017 (18:45 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Blaine, Ferndale, Marietta, Marietta-Alderwood, Point Roberts, Bellingham.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 37 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 410,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 290,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 26× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.1 about 37 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 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

6.0 San Juan Islands, Washington · 17 km S of this epicentre Jan 11, 1909
5.5 21 km SSE of Point Roberts, Washington · 14 km WSW of this epicentre Jan 24, 1920
5.1 10 km ESE of Salt Spring Island, Canada · 40 km W of this epicentre May 16, 1976
5.0 4 km ENE of Deming, Washington · 48 km E of this epicentre Apr 14, 1990

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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction from the epicentre
San Juan County, WA	44 km (27 mi)	SSW	earthquakes near San Juan County
Whatcom County, WA	72 km (45 mi)	E	earthquakes near Whatcom County
Island County, WA	78 km (48 mi)	S	earthquakes near Island County
Skagit County, WA	84 km (52 mi)	ESE	earthquakes near Skagit County
Clallam County, WA	114 km (71 mi)	SW	earthquakes near Clallam County
Snohomish County, WA	118 km (73 mi)	SE	earthquakes near Snohomish County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1.5 13 km WNW of Orcas, Washington 16:24 UTC
1.9 3 km S of Marietta, Washington 10:20 UTC
1.8 4 km N of Custer, Washington 00:28 UTC
1.8 22 km NW of Orcas, Washington 21:47 UTC
2.9 7 km NW of La Conner, Washington 17:59 UTC
1.9 8 km NW of Friday Harbor, Washington 06:21 UTC
2.3 5 km NNE of Alger, Washington 05:44 UTC
1.8 4 km S of Point Roberts, Washington 21:30 UTC
2.0 2 km S of Marietta, Washington 10:29 UTC
1.6 11 km NW of Friday Harbor, Washington 08:41 UTC
1.8 13 km S of Birch Bay, Washington 14:27 UTC
1.6 4 km SW of Geneva, Washington 08:31 UTC
1.7 5 km E of Ferndale, Washington 13:41 UTC
1.6 7 km SSW of Geneva, Washington 18:26 UTC
1.5 6 km W of Orcas, Washington 13:19 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 01:34 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.