Earthquake near Salinas, CA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 16 km (10 mi) from the epicentre. In Salinas, 35 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Ridgemark, Gonzales, Chualar, Soledad, Hollister.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 41 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 370,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 260,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 23× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 41 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 1,600 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 10 km NNE of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
2. 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 3 km NNE of this epicentre Aug 6, 1916
3. 5.5 7 km SW of Hollister, California · 24 km NW of this epicentre Jun 24, 1939
4. 5.5 12 km S of Tres Pinos, California · 5 km NW of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
5. 5.5 3 km ENE of Tres Pinos, California · 18 km N of this epicentre Jan 26, 1986

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 36.6460, -121.2612. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 25 km NE of Soledad, California 15:55 UTC
2. 1.7 2 km ENE of Aromas, California 19:22 UTC
3. 2.0 8 km ENE of Gilroy, California 22:57 UTC
4. 1.9 23 km NE of Soledad, California 21:22 UTC
5. 2.2 24 km NE of Soledad, California 20:03 UTC
6. 1.6 26 km NE of Soledad, California 19:52 UTC
7. 1.6 23 km NE of Soledad, California 19:39 UTC
8. 1.7 21 km NE of Soledad, California 03:39 UTC
9. 1.7 6 km ESE of Prunedale, California 20:52 UTC
10. 1.6 9 km SSW of Tres Pinos, California 03:23 UTC
11. 2.3 1 km ENE of Ridgemark, California 09:37 UTC
12. 2.8 1 km ENE of Ridgemark, California 09:32 UTC
13. 1.6 23 km NE of Soledad, California 08:34 UTC
14. 2.8 21 km NE of Soledad, California 02:24 UTC
15. 1.6 9 km S of Tres Pinos, California 16:23 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 10:43 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.