QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8md

17 km WSW of San Simeon, California

· 3.8 km deep · released about 16 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 74 kmSan Luis Obispo County 86 kmSan Benito 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 1.8 (md)
Depth
3.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 74 km N
Nearest mapped fault
Piedras Blancas blind fault, 2 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 3497 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 16 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 930,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 660,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 59× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 16 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 35.5792, -121.3710. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 74 km (46 mi) S of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 86 km (54 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
San Benito County, CA 118 km (73 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near San Benito County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 7 km ENE of San Simeon, California
  2. 2.5 9 km SW of Oak Shores, California
  3. 1.8 7 km SW of Oak Shores, California
  4. 2.0 8 km SW of Oak Shores, California
  5. 2.3 8 km NE of San Simeon, California
  6. 1.8 11 km NNE of Cayucos, California
  7. 1.6 39 km WSW of Los Osos, California
  8. 2.2 11 km SSW of Lake Nacimiento, California
  9. 1.7 8 km E of San Simeon, California
  10. 1.7 16 km WSW of Lockwood, California
  11. 1.8 14 km NNW of San Simeon, California
  12. 2.1 38 km WNW of San Simeon, California
  13. 1.9 21 km NW of San Simeon, California
  14. 2.1 12 km WNW of Oak Shores, California
  15. 2.0 17 km NW of San Simeon, 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.