The February 22, 1979 earthquake
M5.3near Doyle, California
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake 4.4 miles deep, centred in Lassen County. The 269th strongest in California’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 5.9 on September 12, 1966. 2 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.3
- local magnitude (ml)
- Depth
- 4.4 mi
- 7.1 km below the surface
- Local time
- Thursday, February 22, 1979
- 07:57 PST; 15:57 UTC
- In California’s record
- 269th
- strongest of 97,065 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event nc1044768 (“4 km S of Doyle, 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
3.7
Largest aftershock, Feb 23, 1979
1
On the first day
1
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
- Lassen CountyCA · inside
- Plumas CountyCA · 3.0 mi
- Sierra CountyCA · 19.2 mi
- Nevada CountyCA · 37.8 mi
- Storey CountyNV · 39.1 mi
- Washoe CountyNV · 39.1 mi
- Pershing CountyNV · 40.9 mi
- Placer CountyCA · 46.6 mi
- Churchill CountyNV · 47.0 mi
Cities, largest first
- RenoNV · 33.3 mi
- SparksNV · 35.4 mi
- TruckeeCA · 44.1 mi
- SusanvilleCA · 41.2 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
359 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
- February 18, 1914M6.0
- December 29, 1948M6.0
- September 12, 1966M5.9
- April 1, 1959M5.6
- December 14, 1950M5.6
- December 3, 1942M5.5
- March 30, 1943M5.3
- September 25, 1953M5.3
- May 9, 1952M5.1
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.