Earthquake near Salinas, CA

A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 28 km (17 mi) E of Salinas, CA, at 3:23 am PDT on 21 July 2016 (10:23 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Ridgemark, Hollister, Chualar, San Juan Bautista, Gonzales, Boronda.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.8 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 2,200,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.8 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 9,400 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 22 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 12 km ENE of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
2. 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 42 km NW of this epicentre Mar 11, 1910
3. 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 10 km ESE of this epicentre Aug 6, 1916
4. 5.8 The 1979 Coyote Lake, California Earthquake · 47 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 6, 1979
5. 5.5 7 km SW of Hollister, California · 14 km NW of this epicentre Jun 24, 1939

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 36.7055, -121.3477. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.4 22 km ENE of Soledad, California 03:19 UTC
2. 1.9 12 km S of Tres Pinos, California 04:10 UTC
3. 1.7 2 km E of Aromas, California 22:44 UTC
4. 1.8 30 km ENE of Soledad, California 08:30 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 03:27 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.