QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

30 km ENE of Soledad, California

· 7.9 km deep · released about 9 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 7 kmMonterey County 44 kmMerced County 76 kmSanta Clara County 94 kmSanta Cruz County 100 kmStanislaus County 112 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
7.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 7 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 9 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 36.5598, -121.0325. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 7 km (5 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 44 km (27 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 76 km (47 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 94 km (58 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 100 km (62 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Stanislaus County, CA 112 km (69 mi) S of here earthquakes near Stanislaus 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. 2.0 23 km NE of Greenfield, California
  2. 2.1 23 km NE of San Ardo, California
  3. 1.5 23 km SSW of Los Banos, California
  4. 1.5 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  5. 2.3 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  6. 1.7 23 km SSW of Los Banos, California
  7. 1.9 22 km NE of San Ardo, California
  8. 2.3 29 km SSW of South Dos Palos, California
  9. 2.0 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  10. 1.9 15 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California
  11. 1.9 15 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California
  12. 2.8 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  13. 2.0 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  14. 2.9 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  15. 1.7 25 km NE of Soledad, 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 7,200 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.