Yet despite the earthquake’s intensity — a magnitude of 7.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey — the shaking caused little damage because of its remote epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, 200 miles north of San Francisco Bay. The tsunami warnings were canceled about an hour after they were issued.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake off the California coast briefly triggered a tsunami warning for parts of Northern California and southern Oregon, but the warning was canceled just before noon.

The rupture struck just southwest of the Cascadia subduction zone — the notorious offshore fault capable of generating 8.5 or 9.0 earthquakes, followed by massive tsunamis.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake was reported in northern California on Thursday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The quake occurred on the sparsely populated northern coast of California in a seismically complex area known as the Mendocino Triple Junction. It is where three tectonic plates meet and the Northwest’s Cascadia subduction zone and California’s San Andreas Fault system meet.

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake has struck off the coast near the Northern California area that experienced a powerful 7.0 earthquake Thursday. The earthquake hit at 6:36 a.m. and was centered near Petrolia,