QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1ml

12km NNW of Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA

· 1.9 km deep · released about 46 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Barbara County 60 kmSan Luis Obispo County 62 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 2.1 (ml)
Depth
1.9 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Santa Barbara County, 60 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2713 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 46 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 330,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 230,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 21× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 46 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.

Where

Epicentre 34.8437, -120.5762. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Barbara County, CA 60 km (37 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 62 km (38 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

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

  1. 1.9 7km NNW of Los Olivos, CA
  2. 1.8 11km ENE of Santa Maria, CA
  3. 1.9 6km SW of San Luis Obispo, CA
  4. 1.9 35km SW of Avila Beach, CA
  5. 1.9 27km W of Guadalupe, CA
  6. 2.2 36km WSW of Guadalupe, CA
  7. 2.1 32km WSW of Guadalupe, CA
  8. 2.5 22km SW of Lompoc, CA
  9. 1.6 10km NNE of Los Alamos, CA
  10. 2.0 23km NNE of Nipomo, CA
  11. 1.5 4km E of Avila Beach, CA
  12. 2.5 40km SW of Avila Beach, CA
  13. 1.7 13km NNE of Los Olivos, CA
  14. 2.6 18km SSW of Lompoc, CA
  15. 2.4 16km W of Avila Beach, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.3 on 2017-10-26 — it released about 2,100 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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