Earthquake near Isla Vista, CA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 16 km (10 mi) from the epicentre. In Isla Vista, 12 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.

Likely felt in: Isla Vista 12 km, intensity II · Goleta 15 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 29 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 520,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 370,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 33× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 29 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 1,300 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.8 The 1925 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 22 km SE of this epicentre Jun 29, 1925
2. 5.8 Near Los Alamos, California · 42 km NW of this epicentre Jul 31, 1902
3. 5.7 Near Los Alamos, California · 28 km NW of this epicentre Jan 12, 1915
4. 5.5 10 km NE of Toro Canyon, California · 46 km E of this epicentre Jun 29, 1926
5. 5.5 The 1941 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 41 km ESE of this epicentre Jul 1, 1941

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 34.4217, -119.9908. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 1.7 12km NE of Goleta, CA 11:51 UTC
2. 2.2 11km SSE of Isla Vista, CA 01:07 UTC
3. 2.1 30km S of Solvang, CA 22:29 UTC
4. 2.2 15km SSW of Carpinteria, CA 20:08 UTC
5. 1.5 4km SW of Carpinteria, CA 17:55 UTC
6. 2.7 8km SSW of Los Alamos, CA 05:04 UTC
7. 2.1 22km SSE of Santa Barbara, CA 03:51 UTC
8. 1.8 9km W of Isla Vista, CA 20:18 UTC
9. 1.7 4km SW of Carpinteria, CA 20:34 UTC
10. 2.2 4km SW of Carpinteria, CA 20:20 UTC
11. 2.5 8km S of Carpinteria, CA 03:53 UTC
12. 1.8 10km SE of Santa Ynez, CA 09:16 UTC
13. 1.7 8km ESE of Vandenberg Village, CA 10:18 UTC
14. 1.7 4km S of Buellton, CA 05:21 UTC
15. 1.6 14km SSE of Santa Barbara, CA 01:35 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:10 UTC. 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.