Earthquake near Prunedale, CA

A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 8 km (5 mi) ESE of Prunedale, CA, at 11:18 am PDT on 17 June 2016 (18:18 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Boronda, Salinas, San Juan Bautista, Castroville, Elkhorn, Aromas.

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 8.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,800,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.4 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 27 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 41 km NW of this epicentre Oct 18, 1989
2. 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 40 km N of this epicentre Jul 1, 1911
3. 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 33 km E of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
4. 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 24 km NNW of this epicentre Mar 11, 1910
5. 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 32 km ESE of this epicentre Aug 6, 1916

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 36.7490, -121.5917. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 23 km ENE of Soledad, California 08:17 UTC
2. 1.9 3 km ESE of Tres Pinos, California 21:50 UTC
3. 2.0 10 km S of Tres Pinos, California 13:33 UTC
4. 1.6 9 km SSW of Tres Pinos, California 10:23 UTC
5. 2.0 25 km WSW of Volta, California 17:36 UTC
6. 1.7 2 km SW of San Juan Bautista, California 07:55 UTC
7. 2.2 2 km SW of San Juan Bautista, California 07:47 UTC
8. 2.9 2 km WSW of San Juan Bautista, California 07:08 UTC
9. 2.9 10 km S of Tres Pinos, California 05:14 UTC
10. 1.9 11 km S of Tres Pinos, California 01:39 UTC
11. 2.1 10 km S of Tres Pinos, California 00:08 UTC
12. 2.3 Central California 23:43 UTC
13. 1.7 11 km S of Tres Pinos, California 22:54 UTC
14. 2.0 10 km S of Tres Pinos, California 22:03 UTC
15. 2.9 11 km S of Tres Pinos, California 21:48 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 02:53 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.