Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5ml
Earthquake near Goleta, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Goleta in the 24 hours to 8:56 am PST (16:56 UTC). The last one was M 1.7, 8 km (5 mi) SE, at 8:42 am PDT on 5 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 2 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Goleta
This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 9 km (6 mi) north-northeast of Goleta, CA, at 9:23 am PDT on 16 September 2017 (16:23 UTC), 13 km deep.
USGS: 9km NNE of Goleta, CA
15 km (9 mi) NNW of Santa Barbara, CA · 139 km (86 mi) WNW of Los Angeles, CA
- When
- 9:23 am PDT on 16 September 2017 ()
- Where
- 9 km (6 mi) north-northeast of Goleta, CA · earthquakes near Goleta
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 13 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Barbara County, 22 km W
- Nearest mapped fault
- Santa Ynez fault, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3304 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Goleta, CA
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Goleta, 9 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Mission Canyon, Isla Vista, Santa Barbara, Montecito, Summerland, Toro Canyon.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 lb of TNT
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.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.1 on 2017-05-17 — about 6,900 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.8 The 1925 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 24 km S of this epicentre
- 5.7 Near Los Alamos, California · 38 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.5 10 km NE of Toro Canyon, California · 28 km E of this epicentre
- 5.5 The 1941 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 30 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.1 The 1978 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 24 km SSE of this epicentre
Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.
Where
Epicentre 34.5148, -119.8018. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 22 km (14 mi) | W | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
| Ventura County, CA | 64 km (40 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Ventura County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 114 km (71 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Kern County, CA | 135 km (84 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Kern County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
50 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.2 15km SSW of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.5 4km SW of Carpinteria, CA
- 2.7 8km SSW of Los Alamos, CA
- 2.1 22km SSE of Santa Barbara, CA
- 1.8 9km W of Isla Vista, CA
- 1.7 4km SW of Carpinteria, CA
- 2.2 4km SW of Carpinteria, CA
- 2.5 8km S of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.8 10km SE of Santa Ynez, CA
- 1.7 4km S of Buellton, CA
- 1.6 14km SSE of Santa Barbara, CA
- 1.8 12km NNW of Santa Barbara, CA
- 2.0 13km W of Isla Vista, CA
- 1.9 14km SSE of Santa Barbara, CA
- 1.8 15km SSE of Santa Barbara, 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
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.