Earthquake near Soledad, CA

USGS: 21 km NE of Soledad, California

47 km (29 mi) ESE of Salinas, CA · 102 km (64 mi) SE of San Jose, CA

11:04 am PDT, Aug 19, 2016 · 2016-08-19 18:04 UTC · 2.9 km deep · released about 40 lb of TNT

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Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.

When: 11:04 am PDT on 19 August 2016 (2016-08-19 18:04 UTC)
Where: 22 km (14 mi) NE of Soledad, CA · earthquakes near Soledad
Magnitude: M 2.1 (md)
Depth: 2.9 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: San Benito County, 8 km NE
Nearest mapped fault: San Andreas fault, under 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 3521 days ago · we first saw it 3521 days ago

A magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 22 km (14 mi) NE of Soledad, CA, at 11:04 am PDT on 19 August 2016 (18:04 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Greenfield, Gonzales.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 40 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.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 380,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 270,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 24× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.1 about 40 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 17 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

6.1 Northwest of Huron, California · 48 km E of this epicentre May 26, 1905
5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 22 km NNW of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
5.8 Near Paicines, California · 17 km NW of this epicentre Aug 6, 1916
5.8 29 km NE of San Lucas, California · 43 km SE of this epicentre Jul 25, 1926
5.5 7 km SW of Hollister, California · 39 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

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction from the epicentre
San Benito County, CA	8 km (5 mi)	NE	earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA	38 km (24 mi)	SSW	earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA	81 km (50 mi)	NNE	earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA	89 km (56 mi)	NNW	earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA	93 km (58 mi)	NW	earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Stanislaus County, CA	113 km (70 mi)	N	earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

2.0 20 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California 13:21 UTC
1.6 20 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California 10:34 UTC
2.1 23 km NE of Soledad, California 04:24 UTC
2.1 7 km WSW of Ridgemark, California 00:06 UTC
2.1 7 km SW of Ridgemark, California 00:06 UTC
1.8 2 km WSW of San Juan Bautista, California 20:16 UTC
1.6 23 km NE of Soledad, California 19:47 UTC
2.1 21 km NE of Soledad, California 17:26 UTC
2.0 21 km NE of Soledad, California 07:11 UTC
2.0 28 km W of Three Rocks, California 06:29 UTC
1.7 23 km NE of Soledad, California 05:52 UTC
2.1 24 km NE of Greenfield, California 17:52 UTC
1.9 15 km SE of Tres Pinos, California 07:13 UTC
1.5 0 km W of Hollister, California 19:58 UTC
1.5 2 km WNW of Ridgemark, California 14:57 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 04:06 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.