Offshore Quake Jolts Northern California

A moderate offshore earthquake jolted a wide coastal area of Northern California on Saturday night, authorities said. No damage or injuries were reported.

The quake that struck at 7:43 p.m. registered 5.2 on the Richter scale, said Pat Jorgenson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park. It was centered just off Punta Gorda, about 43 miles southwest of Eureka and about 120 miles south of the California-Oregon border.

The quake occurred just off the coast where the San Andreas Fault, the Mendocino escarpment and the Punta Gorda tectonic plate come together, Jorgenson said.