Very strong mag. 6.4 Earthquake - North Pacific Ocean, 23 mi southwest of Eureka, Humboldt County, California, USA, on Tuesday, Dec 20, 2022 02:34 am (Los Angeles time) -

An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 occurred early morning on Tuesday, December 20th, 2022, at 2:34 am local time near Eureka, Humboldt County, California, USA, as reported by the United States Geological Survey.
According to preliminary data, the quake was located at a shallow depth of 10 miles. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
A second report was later issued by France's Réseau National de Surveillance Sismique (RéNaSS), which listed it as a magnitude 5.3 earthquake. Other agencies reporting the same quake include the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) at magnitude 6.1, the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake at magnitude 6.4, and the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) at magnitude 6.4.
Generally quakes of this magnitude are recorded by more than one agency and the results can vary, with subsequent reports that come in after the first one often showing more accuracy.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should have been felt by everybody in the area of the epicenter. In those areas, dangerous ground shaking occurred with the potential to inflict moderate to heavy damage to buildings and other infrastructure.
Towns or cities where the quake likely caused strong ground shaking include
Moderate shaking probably occurred in Fortuna (pop. 12,000) located 13 miles from the epicenter, Rio Dell (pop. 3,400) 15 miles away, Humboldt Hill (pop. 3,400) 18 miles away, Pine Hills (pop. 3,100) 19 miles away, Eureka (pop. 27,000) 23 miles away, Bayside (pop. 17,100) 28 miles away, Arcata (pop. 17,800) 29 miles away, and McKinleyville (pop. 15,200) 33 miles away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.

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Based on its magnitude, the fault that was active during the quake ruptured along a surface of approx. 251 km² (=97 sqare miles) as a first-order estimate. The length of the rupture zone thus was probably around 27 km (17 mi).
Aftershocks typically occur during the weeks and months following the quake at or near the same fault, at distances of up to approx. two times the length of the rupture zone.
The often broadly linear arrangement of aftershock epicenters encompasses the rupture zone of the main shock (check on the map below to verify).

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