QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1ml

Earthquake near Crescent City, CA

USGS: 16 km SSW of Crescent City, California

9:19 pm PDT, Jul 12, 2020 · · -0.5 km deep · released about 41 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Crescent City Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Del Norte County 30 kmCurry County 93 kmJosephine County 104 kmHumboldt 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
9:19 pm PDT on 12 July 2020 ()
Where
17 km (10 mi) SSW of Crescent City, CA · earthquakes near Crescent City
Magnitude
M 2.1 (ml)
Depth
-0.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Del Norte County, 30 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2272 days ago

A magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 17 km (10 mi) SSW of Crescent City, CA, at 9:19 pm PDT on 12 July 2020 (04:19 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Bertsch-Oceanview, Fort Dick.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 41 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 370,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 260,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 23× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 41 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 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.5 52 km WNW of Big Lagoon, California · 48 km SW of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 5 km NNE of Hiouchi, California · 32 km NE 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 41.6312, -124.3118. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Del Norte County, CA 30 km (19 mi) ENE earthquakes near Del Norte County
Curry County, OR 93 km (58 mi) N earthquakes near Curry County
Josephine County, OR 104 km (65 mi) NE earthquakes near Josephine County
Humboldt County, CA 108 km (67 mi) SSE earthquakes near Humboldt County
Trinity County, CA 148 km (92 mi) SE earthquakes near Trinity County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 23 km WSW of Brookings, Oregon
  2. 2.4 20 km SE of Klamath, CA
  3. 3.2 28 km NW of Trinidad, CA
  4. 2.4 14 km SSW of Crescent City, CA
  5. 2.3 17 km NNW of Trinidad, CA
  6. 1.8 12 km SSW of Brookings, Oregon
  7. 2.5 14 km SSW of Bertsch-Oceanview, CA
  8. 1.9 12 km WSW of Smith River, California
  9. 2.8 18 km SSE of Klamath, CA
  10. 2.7 13 km SSW of Bertsch-Oceanview, CA
  11. 2.6 18 km SSW of Brookings, OR
  12. 2.2 6 km W of Klamath, CA
  13. 2.5 17 km SSE of Klamath, CA
  14. 3.0 17 km SSE of Klamath, CA
  15. 1.8 5 km SW of Brookings, Oregon

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.