Massive magnitude 7 earthquake strikes off California coast

a map showing the location of an earthquake — A map showing the location and intensity of the earthquake.

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A magnitude 7 earthquake hit off the coast of northern California on Thursday (Dec. 5).

However, a tsunami warning that had initially been prompted by the earthquake has now been canceled, according to the U.S. Tsunami Warning System.

Laura is the managing editor at Live Science. She also runs the archaeology section and the Life's Little Mysteries series. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum, a site on autism research. She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for her reporting at a weekly newspaper near Seattle. Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in science writing from NYU.