Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8ml
Earthquake near Los Alamos, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Los Alamos in the 24 hours to 7:25 am PST (15:25 UTC). The last one was M 2.2, 7 km (4 mi) ENE, at 8:51 am PDT on 23 July 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Los Alamos
This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 9 km (5 mi) northeast of Los Alamos, CA, at 12:36 am PDT on 17 May 2020 (07:36 UTC), 7.1 km deep.
USGS: 9km NE of Los Alamos, CA
25 km (16 mi) SE of Santa Maria, CA
- When
- 12:36 am PDT on 17 May 2020 ()
- Where
- 9 km (5 mi) northeast of Los Alamos, CA · earthquakes near Los Alamos
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Barbara County, 34 km SSE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Los Alamos fault, 8 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 2368 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Los Alamos, CA
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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, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Los Alamos, 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.
Likely felt in: Los Alamos 9 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 13 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 840,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 75× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 13 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 2,900 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 6.9 The 1927 Lompoc, California Earthquake · 47 km WSW of this epicentre
- 5.8 Near Los Alamos, California · 17 km W of this epicentre
- 5.8 Near Los Alamos, California · 14 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.7 Near Los Alamos, California · 23 km S of this epicentre
- 5.0 5 km SSW of Nipomo, California · 34 km NW 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 34.8038, -120.2153. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 34 km (21 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 68 km (42 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Ventura County, CA | 111 km (69 mi) | ESE | 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.
- 1.6 8km N of Los Alamos, CA
- 1.8 8km WNW of Orcutt, CA
- 1.8 5km SSE of Los Alamos, CA
- 1.6 13km N of Goleta, CA
- 1.9 6km ENE of Lompoc, CA
- 1.7 12km NNE of Goleta, CA
- 1.8 23km NE of Santa Ynez, CA
- 2.1 4km ESE of Orcutt, CA
- 1.7 14km N of Goleta, CA
- 2.1 21km S of Solvang, CA
- 1.8 5km NE of Lompoc, CA
- 2.5 13km W of Isla Vista, CA
- 2.0 7km ESE of Lompoc, CA
- 2.1 14km SSW of Lompoc, CA
- 2.0 13km SW of Guadalupe, 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.