Earthquake near Salinas, CA

A magnitude 3.2 earthquake was recorded 29 km (18 mi) E of Salinas, CA, at 3:05 pm PDT on 16 August 2016 (22:05 UTC). 6 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: Ridgemark, Hollister, Chualar, Gonzales, San Juan Bautista, Soledad.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,800 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 180,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 8,200× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,800× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,800 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.9× 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.2 on 2016-07-19 — about 35 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 21 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 10 km ENE of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
2. 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 44 km NW of this epicentre Mar 11, 1910
3. 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 7 km ESE of this epicentre Aug 6, 1916
4. 5.8 The 1979 Coyote Lake, California Earthquake · 48 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 6, 1979
5. 5.5 7 km SW of Hollister, California · 16 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 36.6943, -121.3272. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.0 20 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California 13:21 UTC
2. 1.6 20 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California 10:34 UTC
3. 2.1 23 km NE of Soledad, California 04:24 UTC
4. 2.1 7 km WSW of Ridgemark, California 00:06 UTC
5. 2.1 7 km SW of Ridgemark, California 00:06 UTC
6. 1.8 2 km WSW of San Juan Bautista, California 20:16 UTC
7. 1.6 23 km NE of Soledad, California 19:47 UTC
8. 2.1 21 km NE of Soledad, California 17:26 UTC
9. 2.0 21 km NE of Soledad, California 07:11 UTC
10. 1.7 23 km NE of Soledad, California 05:52 UTC
11. 2.1 24 km NE of Greenfield, California 17:52 UTC
12. 1.9 15 km SE of Tres Pinos, California 07:13 UTC
13. 1.5 0 km W of Hollister, California 19:58 UTC
14. 1.5 2 km WNW of Ridgemark, California 14:57 UTC
15. 2.3 28 km ENE of Soledad, California 18:49 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 04:07 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.