Earthquake near Santa Barbara, CA

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 14 km (9 mi) from the epicentre. In Santa Barbara, 18 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Isla Vista, Goleta, Mission Canyon, Montecito, Summerland, Toro Canyon.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 17 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.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 870,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 620,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 55× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 17 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 2,100 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.8 The 1925 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 5 km NW of this epicentre Jun 29, 1925
2. 5.5 30 km SW of Channel Islands Beach, California · 39 km SE of this epicentre Feb 18, 1926
3. 5.5 10 km NE of Toro Canyon, California · 35 km NE of this epicentre Jun 29, 1926
4. 5.5 The 1941 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 19 km ENE of this epicentre Jul 1, 1941
5. 5.2 9 km SW of Channel Islands Beach, California · 47 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 18, 1928

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 34.2713, -119.7637. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.2 1km NNW of Santa Barbara, CA 09:49 UTC
2. 2.2 25km NNE of Montecito, CA 11:42 UTC
3. 1.6 25km NNE of Montecito, CA 23:21 UTC
4. 1.7 24km NNE of Montecito, CA 18:44 UTC
5. 1.7 10km NNW of Montecito, CA 04:15 UTC
6. 1.9 18km NNE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA 13:39 UTC
7. 1.8 18km NNE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA 10:15 UTC
8. 2.2 19km NNE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA 12:55 UTC
9. 1.6 17km NNE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA 12:16 UTC
10. 1.5 17km NNE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA 12:15 UTC
11. 1.8 18km NNE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA 12:12 UTC
12. 1.6 18km NNE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA 12:10 UTC
13. 1.5 15km NNE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA 11:45 UTC
14. 1.6 15km SSE of Santa Barbara, CA 22:50 UTC
15. 2.0 3km ESE of Isla Vista, CA 03:28 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 12:37 UTC. 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.