Earthquake near San Juan Bautista, CA

A magnitude 2.9 earthquake was recorded 3 km (2 mi) WSW of San Juan Bautista, CA, at 12:08 am PDT on 20 July 2016 (07:08 UTC). 43 people have reported feeling it to USGS. This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Aromas, Prunedale, Hollister, Las Lomas, Elkhorn, Ridgemark.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 750 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 20,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 14,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.3× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 750 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 4.2 on 2016-07-19 — about 86 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 28 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 36 km NW of this epicentre Oct 18, 1989
2. 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 32 km NNW of this epicentre Jul 1, 1911
3. 6.1 Near San Jose, California · 46 km NNW of this epicentre Jun 11, 1903
4. 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 32 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
5. 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 18 km NW of this epicentre Mar 11, 1910

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 36.8330, -121.5643. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.1 21 km NE of Soledad, California 08:19 UTC
2. 1.9 3 km SW of Tres Pinos, California 00:57 UTC
3. 1.9 12 km S of Tres Pinos, California 04:10 UTC
4. 1.7 2 km E of Aromas, California 22:44 UTC
5. 2.1 21 km NE of Soledad, California 18:04 UTC
6. 1.5 25 km WSW of Volta, California 13:31 UTC
7. 1.6 8 km ENE of Hollister, California 05:04 UTC
8. 3.2 10 km S of Tres Pinos, California 22:05 UTC
9. 3.1 10 km S of Tres Pinos, California 21:54 UTC
10. 2.5 10 km S of Tres Pinos, California 21:54 UTC
11. 1.9 14 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California 11:56 UTC
12. 1.5 21 km NE of Soledad, California 18:42 UTC
13. 1.8 9 km SSW of Tres Pinos, California 16:21 UTC
14. 3.6 9 km S of Tres Pinos, California 16:17 UTC
15. 2.3 3 km N of Hollister, California 20:53 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 03:28 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.