Reviewed by USGSCalifornia45y ago
M2.6 earthquake 10 km N of Covelo, California
Tuesday, June 16, 1981, 07:01:08 UTC · 39.885°N, 123.226°W
A magnitude 2.6 earthquake struck 10 km N of Covelo, California on Tuesday, June 16, 1981, 07:01:08 UTC, at a depth of 3.6 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 2.6
- Minor · md
- Depth
- 4 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
138 kg of TNT
That is about 1/109,481 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 3,467 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
72 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the North American and Pacific plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
4 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 50 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 116 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.9The 1906 San Francisco, California EarthquakeApril 18, 1906 · 244 km S of this epicenter
- 7.4123 km W of Big Lagoon, CaliforniaJanuary 31, 1922 · 248 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.2The 1980 Eureka, California EarthquakeNovember 8, 1980 · 162 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.1The 1923 Humboldt County, California EarthquakeJanuary 22, 1923 · 167 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.8123 km W of Ferndale, CaliforniaNovember 25, 1954 · 220 km W of this epicenter
- 6.884 km W of Ferndale, CaliforniaFebruary 9, 1941 · 193 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.8off the coast of Northern CaliforniaJuly 6, 1934 · 244 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.552 km WNW of Big Lagoon, CaliforniaJuly 15, 1918 · 204 km NW of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 33 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 733 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1906M7.9
San Francisco
18 Apr 1906 · 255 km away · intensity XI
700 deaths$400 million damagetsunami
- 1868M6.8
Hayward,San Francisco
21 Oct 1868 · 262 km away · intensity IX
30 deathsUnder $1 million damagetsunami
- 1969M4.8
Santa Rosa
2 Oct 1969 · 164 km away · intensity VIII
1 death$8 million damage
- 1954M6.6
Humboldt County
21 Dec 1954 · 121 km away
1 death$2 million damage
- 1932M6.5
Eureka
6 Jun 1932 · 130 km away · intensity VIII
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1980M5.9
Livermore
24 Jan 1980 · 257 km away · intensity VII
$12 million damage
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.