Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.1ml
21km S of Santa Barbara, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.1 (ml)
- Depth
- -0.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- 53 reports · strongest reported intensity III
- Measured shaking
- intensity III (ShakeMap)
- Nearest
- Santa Barbara County, 43 km NW
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 781 days ago
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 53 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
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.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 270,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 12,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 8,500× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
- 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.
Where
Epicentre 34.2390, -119.7367. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 43 km (27 mi) | SE of here | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
| Ventura County, CA | 57 km (35 mi) | WSW of here | earthquakes near Ventura County |
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.
- 1.6 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
- 1.7 13 km WNW of Ventura, CA
- 2.4 20 km S of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.6 10km WSW of Ventura, CA
- 2.6 17km SE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
- 2.1 19km S of Santa Barbara, CA
- 1.6 12km ESE of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.6 19km SSW of Santa Barbara, 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 5.3 on 2018-04-05 — it released about 2,100 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.