Moderate M 4.4 earthquake strikes the California North Coast

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Tuesday, January 7, 2003

An earthquake registering M 4.4 occurred this evening along the California North Coast off shore seismic zones. Early reports indicate it was widely felt in coastal Humboldt County, but there have been no reports damage or injuries at this time.

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According to the Northern California Seismic Network (NCSN) the earthquake measured M 4.4 occurred at 05:43:41 GMT, January 8 (or 9:43 p.m. PST, January 7), about 71 miles southwest of Eureka and about 61 miles west of Petrolia in the Pacific Ocean. See US Geological Survey location map.

The focal depth was shallow, only 2.5 km beneath the surface. UC Berkeley determined a Moment magnitude (Mw) of 4.4 and their fault plane solution suggested strike-slip motion along an east-west trending plane. See solution.

The earthquake triggered along the Mendocino Fault, the southern boundary of the Gorda and Pacific tectonic plates.

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