QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1ml

12km E of Orcutt, CA

· 1.2 km deep · released about 38 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Barbara County 43 kmSan Luis Obispo County 61 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
1.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Barbara County, 43 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2644 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 38 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 5.8 390,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 280,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 25× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 38 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 34.8473, -120.3117. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Barbara County, CA 43 km (26 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 61 km (38 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Ventura County, CA 121 km (75 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Ventura 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. 1.6 10km SSE of Orcutt, CA
  2. 1.5 10km SSE of Orcutt, CA
  3. 2.3 6km E of Vandenberg Village, CA
  4. 1.9 3km NW of Vandenberg Village, CA
  5. 2.0 6km NNW of Los Olivos, CA
  6. 1.9 7km NNW of Los Olivos, CA
  7. 1.8 11km ENE of Santa Maria, CA
  8. 2.4 24km SE of Santa Margarita, CA
  9. 2.5 22km SW of Lompoc, CA
  10. 1.6 10km NNE of Los Alamos, CA
  11. 2.0 23km NNE of Nipomo, CA
  12. 2.1 5km SSE of Santa Ynez, CA
  13. 2.4 5km SSE of Santa Ynez, CA
  14. 3.9 6km SSE of Santa Ynez, CA
  15. 1.7 13km NNE of Los Olivos, 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.