QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

5 km E of Santa Margarita, California

· 7.0 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 9 kmKings County 101 kmSanta Barbara County 105 kmMonterey County 118 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 9 km E
Nearest mapped fault
Los Osos fault, 21 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3517 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 35.3840, -120.5465. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 9 km (6 mi) W of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kings County, CA 101 km (63 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Santa Barbara County, CA 105 km (65 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Monterey County, CA 118 km (73 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Monterey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 30 km ESE of Shandon, California
  2. 1.6 11 km NNE of Shandon, California
  3. 1.8 11 km NNE of Cayucos, California
  4. 1.5 4 km WSW of Paso Robles, California
  5. 2.2 11 km SSW of Lake Nacimiento, California
  6. 1.5 11 km NNE of Cayucos, California
  7. 1.9 7 km WSW of Templeton, CA
  8. 1.6 17 km SE of Shandon, California
  9. 2.2 11 km S of Cambria, California
  10. 1.6 6 km NNE of Avila Beach, California
  11. 1.7 1 km ENE of Los Osos, California
  12. 1.5 9km WSW of Atascadero, CA
  13. 2.5 6 km NW of Templeton, California
  14. 1.6 6 km NNE of Avila Beach, California
  15. 1.8 7 km WSW of Templeton, 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.

On USGS

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