The August 20, 1927 earthquake
M5.6near Burnt Ranch, California
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake 9.3 miles deep, centred in Humboldt County. The 158th strongest in California’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 6.0 on October 28, 1909.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.6
- moment magnitude (mw)
- Depth
- 9.3 mi
- 15.0 km below the surface
- Local time
- Saturday, August 20, 1927
- 12:06 PST; 20:06 UTC
- In California’s record
- 158th
- strongest of 97,065 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event iscgem909459 (“15 km SW of Burnt Ranch, California”). The USGS event page carries the ShakeMap, felt reports and the official summary.
Counties and cities within 50 miles
Distance from the epicentre to each county boundary (zero when inside) and to each city centre.
Counties
- Humboldt CountyCA · inside
- Trinity CountyCA · 4.0 mi
- Siskiyou CountyCA · 31.7 mi
- Shasta CountyCA · 38.4 mi
- Tehama CountyCA · 41.4 mi
- Del Norte CountyCA · 46.2 mi
- Mendocino CountyCA · 49.4 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
983 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.
Earlier earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more within 50 miles, strongest first
- October 28, 1909M6.0
- August 18, 1908M5.8
- February 9, 1923M5.0
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.