Magnitude3.0

Reviewed by USGSCalifornia45y ago

M3.0 earthquake 3 km NE of Redway, California

Thursday, February 25, 1982, 13:53:26 UTC · 40.145°N, 123.794°W

A magnitude 3.0 earthquake struck 3 km NE of Redway, California on Thursday, February 25, 1982, 13:53:26 UTC, at a depth of 20.8 km (shallow).

Magnitude
3.0
Minor · md
Depth
21 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

461 kg of TNT

That is about 1/32,684 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 1,035 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

39 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

21 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 lists 5 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M3.6 on March 17, 1982. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 121 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 25 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 703 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1906M7.9

    San Francisco

    18 Apr 1906 · 298 km away · intensity XI

    700 deaths$400 million damagetsunami

  2. 1969M4.8

    Santa Rosa

    2 Oct 1969 · 209 km away · intensity VIII

    1 death$8 million damage

  3. 1954M6.6

    Humboldt County

    21 Dec 1954 · 78 km away

    1 death$2 million damage

  4. 1932M6.5

    Eureka

    6 Jun 1932 · 77 km away · intensity VIII

    1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)

  5. 1980M7.2

    North Coast

    8 Nov 1980 · 115 km away · intensity VII

    $2 million damage

  6. 1898M6.5

    Sonoma County

    31 Mar 1898 · 247 km away · intensity VIII

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages