The July 2, 1974 earthquake
M5.4near Ferndale, California
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake 7.5 miles deep, 38.3 miles off Humboldt County. The 229th strongest in California’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 5.4 on November 20, 1971. 2 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.4
- body-wave magnitude (mb)
- Depth
- 7.5 mi
- 12.0 km below the surface
- Local time
- Tuesday, July 2, 1974
- 22:00 PDT; 05:00 UTC on Jul 3, 1974
- In California’s record
- 229th
- strongest of 97,065 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event usp00006zr (“75 km WSW of Ferndale, California”). The USGS event page carries the ShakeMap, felt reports and the official summary.
Aftershocks
Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 20 miles of the epicentre in the 30 days after.
2
Aftershocks in 30 days
5.0
Largest aftershock, Jul 13, 1974 · its page
0
On the first day
0
In the 7 days before
- The search radius is the surface rupture length expected for an earthquake of this magnitude (Wells and Coppersmith, 1994), at least 20 and at most 600 miles, so a great earthquake's sequence is counted along its whole fault.
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 · 38.3 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
2,224 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
- January 22, 1923M7.1
- February 9, 1941M6.8
- October 3, 1941M6.5
- June 6, 1932M6.5
- October 7, 1951M6.0
- September 22, 1952M6.0
- October 28, 1909M6.0
- March 18, 1910M6.0
- June 5, 1960M6.0
- December 10, 1967M6.0
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.