Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8ml
9km NE of Los Alamos, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Barbara County, 34 km SSE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2322 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 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.
Where
Epicentre 34.8038, -120.2153. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 34 km (21 mi) | NNW of here | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 68 km (42 mi) | SSE of here | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Ventura County, CA | 111 km (69 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.
- 1.6 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.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.1 on 2017-05-17 — it released about 2,900 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
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.