Earthquake near Santa Barbara, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 41 km (25 mi) from the epicentre. In Santa Barbara, 21 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: Santa Barbara 21 km, intensity II · Isla Vista 22 km, intensity II · Goleta 23 km, intensity II · Carpinteria 27 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 270,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 12,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 8,500× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.3× more

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 5.3 on 2018-04-05 — 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 · 9 km NW of this epicentre Jun 29, 1925
2. 5.5 30 km SW of Channel Islands Beach, California · 34 km SE of this epicentre Feb 18, 1926
3. 5.5 10 km NE of Toro Canyon, California · 36 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 · 43 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 34.2390, -119.7367. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 5 km W of Isla Vista, CA 10:22 UTC
2. 2.4 5 km W of Isla Vista, CA 16:16 UTC
3. 1.9 12 km W of Isla Vista, CA 08:21 UTC
4. 1.7 13 km W of Isla Vista, CA 05:16 UTC
5. 2.0 14 km WNW of Ventura, CA 00:08 UTC
6. 1.7 13 km WNW of Ventura, CA 20:38 UTC
7. 2.4 20 km S of Carpinteria, CA 10:34 UTC
8. 1.6 10km WSW of Ventura, CA 10:59 UTC
9. 2.6 17km SE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA 21:27 UTC
10. 2.1 19km S of Santa Barbara, CA 22:00 UTC
11. 1.6 12km ESE of Carpinteria, CA 09:46 UTC
12. 1.6 19km SSW of Santa Barbara, CA 16:49 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 15:35 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.