Reviewed by USGSOregon100y ago
M5.8 earthquake 207 km W of Port Orford, Oregon
Thursday, July 14, 1927, 12:59:57 UTC · 42.631°N, 127.029°W
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck 207 km W of Port Orford, Oregon on Thursday, July 14, 1927, 12:59:57 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.2 on December 10, 1926.
- Magnitude
- 5.8
- Moderate · mw
- Depth
- 15 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
7 kilotons of TNT
That is about 1/2 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 15 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
12 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Pacific and Juan de Fuca plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
15 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 75 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 75 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 18 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.4123 km W of Big Lagoon, CaliforniaJanuary 31, 1922 · 199 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.1The 1923 Humboldt County, California EarthquakeJanuary 22, 1923 · 291 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.552 km WNW of Big Lagoon, CaliforniaJuly 15, 1918 · 240 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.5235 km W of Port Orford, OregonAugust 5, 1910 · 32 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.4187 km W of Trinidad, CaliforniaDecember 31, 1915 · 169 km S of this epicenter
- 6.4off the coast of Northern CaliforniaJune 10, 1917 · 280 km S of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 4 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:
- 1865
Fort Humboldt, Eureka
1 Oct 1865 · 277 km away · intensity IX
Moderate damage ($1–5M)
- 1922M7.6
Northern
31 Jan 1922 · 221 km away
Limited damage (under $1M)
- 1923M7.1
Northern
22 Jan 1923 · 291 km away · intensity VIII
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1873M6.7
Northern
23 Nov 1873 · 259 km away · intensity VIII
Limited damage (under $1M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.