QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.3mw

32km SW of Lompoc, CA

· 4.3 km deep · released about 47 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Barbara County 60 kmSan Luis Obispo County 110 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 4.3 (mw)
Depth
4.3 km below the surface
Felt
1981 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Tsunami
USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
Nearest
Santa Barbara County, 60 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2966 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 1981 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 47 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 3,600× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 160× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 110× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.3 about 47 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 99× 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 34.4213, -120.6785. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Barbara County, CA 60 km (37 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 110 km (68 mi) S of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 21km SSW of Lompoc, CA
  2. 1.9 22km S of Solvang, CA
  3. 1.8 19km SSW of Lompoc, CA
  4. 2.6 20km SSW of Lompoc, CA
  5. 1.7 19km SSW of Lompoc, CA
  6. 2.6 12km SSW of Lompoc, CA
  7. 2.1 13km SSW of Lompoc, CA
  8. 2.0 13km SSW of Lompoc, CA
  9. 2.0 31 km SW of Lompoc, CA
  10. 2.6 13km SSW of Lompoc, CA
  11. 2.1 5km SSW of Orcutt, CA
  12. 2.6 52km WSW of Lompoc, CA
  13. 2.1 42km SW of Lompoc, CA
  14. 1.6 8km E of Vandenberg Village, CA
  15. 2.1 12km NNW of Vandenberg Air Force Base, 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.