3.0 quake shakes Kenwood area

A magnitude-3.0 earthquake hit the Kenwood area early Thursday afternoon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

That followed an earlier, 5.1-magnitude quake off the far Northern California coast at 4:16 a.m.

The Sonoma County quake, on the Rodgers Creek Fault, hit at 1:18 p.m. and registered a depth of 4.7 miles. The epicenter was reported as 4 miles southwest of Kenwood and 5 miles east northeast of Rohnert Park.

People from as far away as San Francisco and Napa reported feeling the shaker on the USGS website, but no damage or injuries were reported.

Public safety dispatchers in the Sonoma Valley area said they didn't field any calls related to the shaking, although in Rohnert Park a couple people called police asking about it.

Several people in an apartment complex in Rohnert Park felt it was strong enough to go outside their buildings.

At about 4:15 a.m., the USGS recorded a quake centered in the Pacific Ocean, about 70 miles west of Ferndale. It was downgraded from its originally logged strength of magnitude-5.3.

The Victorian village of Ferndale sits about 100 miles south of the Oregon state line. An officer with the Ferndale City Police Department said some slight shaking was felt in the area, but no damage or injuries were reported.

The Rodgers Creek Fault occasionally slips, though quakes are typically small, according to the USGS.

The two most recent moderate-sized earthquakes on the fault, magnitudes 5.6 and 5.7, struck closer to Santa Rosa in October 1969.

An 1893 earthquake near Santa Rosa and an 1898 earthquake near Mare Island are thought to have occurred along or near the Rodgers Creek Fault.

The 2003 Working Group for California Earthquake Probability assigned a 27 percent probability that the Rodgers Creek Fault system, where it overlaps the Hayward Fault, would produce a magnitude-6.7 or larger earthquake in the next 30 years.

A magnitude-6.0 temblor caused extensive damage in Napa and the surrounding area on Aug. 24.

You can reach Lori A. Carter at 521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.