QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2ml

12 km SSW of Santa Barbara, California

· 1.7 km deep · released about 1 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Barbara County 37 kmVentura County 56 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 3.2 (ml)
Depth
1.7 km below the surface
Felt
154 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Santa Barbara County, 37 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3348 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 154 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 170,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,400× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,200× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.1× more

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

Where

Epicentre 34.3137, -119.7423. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Barbara County, CA 37 km (23 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Ventura County, CA 56 km (35 mi) W of here earthquakes near Ventura County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 136 km (84 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kern County, CA 147 km (92 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Kern County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

51 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 3.8 13km W of Isla Vista, CA
  2. 2.0 3km W of Carpinteria, CA
  3. 2.2 20km S of Carpinteria, CA
  4. 3.1 13km W of Isla Vista, CA
  5. 2.5 20km N of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  6. 2.2 12km W of Isla Vista, CA
  7. 1.5 7km N of Ventura, CA
  8. 1.9 12km W of Ojai, CA
  9. 1.7 10km ENE of Carpinteria, CA
  10. 2.1 12km WSW of Ojai, CA
  11. 2.4 12km WSW of Ojai, CA
  12. 2.6 12km WSW of Ojai, CA
  13. 1.5 9km NNE of Goleta, CA
  14. 2.1 2km N of Ojai, CA
  15. 2.3 23km NNW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.