Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7ml
Earthquake near Goleta, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Goleta in the 24 hours to 6:59 am PST (14:59 UTC). The last one was M 1.7, 8 km (5 mi) SE, at 8:42 am PDT on 5 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 2 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Goleta
This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 12 km (7 mi) north-northeast of Goleta, CA, at 10:11 am PDT on 27 August 2022 (17:11 UTC), 7.9 km deep.
USGS: 12km NNE of Goleta, CA
16 km (10 mi) NNW of Santa Barbara, CA · 139 km (87 mi) WNW of Los Angeles, CA
- When
- 10:11 am PDT on 27 August 2022 ()
- Where
- 12 km (7 mi) north-northeast of Goleta, CA · earthquakes near Goleta
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.9 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Barbara County, 22 km W
- Nearest mapped fault
- Santa Ynez fault, under 1 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 1536 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Goleta, CA
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Alerts are on for .
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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Goleta, 12 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: Mission Canyon, Isla Vista, Santa Barbara, Montecito, Summerland, Toro Canyon.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 9.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,600,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 99× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.6 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 3,800 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.8 The 1925 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 26 km S of this epicentre
- 5.8 Near Los Alamos, California · 50 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.7 Near Los Alamos, California · 38 km W of this epicentre
- 5.5 10 km NE of Toro Canyon, California · 27 km E of this epicentre
- 5.5 The 1941 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 31 km SE 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 34.5355, -119.7938. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 22 km (14 mi) | W | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
| Ventura County, CA | 64 km (40 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Ventura County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 112 km (70 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Kern County, CA | 132 km (82 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Kern County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
48 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.6 27 km WSW of Maricopa, CA
- 1.8 4 km SE of Santa Barbara, CA
- 2.0 13 km S of Isla Vista, CA
- 1.6 8 km SE of Los Alamos, CA
- 1.8 14 km SSW of Santa Barbara, CA
- 1.7 10 km ENE of Los Olivos, CA
- 1.5 7 km NW of Los Olivos, CA
- 1.7 14 km WNW of Ventura, CA
- 1.6 28 km NNE of Montecito, CA
- 2.2 5 km SW of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.6 5 km W of Isla Vista, CA
- 2.4 5 km W of Isla Vista, CA
- 1.9 12 km W of Isla Vista, CA
- 1.7 13 km W of Isla Vista, CA
- 2.0 14 km WNW of Ventura, 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.