QuakeIndex

quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

7 km ESE of Prunedale, California

· -0.3 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 47 kmSan Benito County 48 kmSanta Clara County 54 kmMonterey County 61 kmMerced County 92 kmSan Mateo County 102 kmAlameda County 104 kmStanislaus County 105 km
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
Magnitude
M 1.7 (md)
Depth
-0.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 47 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3515 days ago

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

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 10 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 95× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 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.

Where

Epicentre 36.7455, -121.5925. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 47 km (29 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 48 km (30 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Clara County, CA 54 km (33 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Monterey County, CA 61 km (38 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 92 km (57 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
San Mateo County, CA 102 km (63 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County

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. 2.6 22 km NE of Soledad, California
  2. 2.6 5 km WNW of San Juan Bautista, California
  3. 1.6 2 km SSW of San Juan Bautista, California
  4. 2.7 5 km SE of Aromas, California
  5. 2.7 4 km WNW of San Juan Bautista, California
  6. 2.8 5 km WNW of San Juan Bautista, California
  7. 1.7 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  8. 2.0 7 km N of Hollister, California
  9. 1.6 11 km S of Tres Pinos, California
  10. 2.3 7 km N of Hollister, California
  11. 1.7 12 km NNW of Hollister, California
  12. 2.5 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  13. 1.8 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  14. 1.8 11 km S of Tres Pinos, California
  15. 3.5 8 km S of Tres Pinos, California

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.2 on 2016-07-19 — it released about 6,500 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.