QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1ml

21 km NE of Soledad, California

· 7.7 km deep · released about 1,200 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 9 kmMonterey County 38 kmMerced County 81 kmSanta Clara County 88 kmSanta Cruz County 91 kmStanislaus County 113 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 3.1 (ml)
Depth
7.7 km below the surface
Felt
16 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
San Benito County, 9 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3255 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 16 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,200 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 290,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 13,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 9,100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,200 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.2× more

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 36.5555, -121.1545. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 9 km (5 mi) SW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 38 km (24 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 81 km (50 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 88 km (55 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 91 km (57 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Stanislaus County, CA 113 km (70 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

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

  1. 2.1 8 km SSW of Tres Pinos, California
  2. 1.8 30 km ENE of Soledad, California
  3. 1.6 Central California
  4. 1.6 22 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California
  5. 1.8 22 km NE of Soledad, California
  6. 2.0 9 km SW of Ridgemark, California
  7. 1.8 27 km NE of Greenfield, California
  8. 1.6 27 km NE of Greenfield, California
  9. 3.5 27 km NE of Greenfield, California
  10. 1.7 20 km NE of Soledad, California
  11. 2.1 17 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California
  12. 2.2 1 km NW of Hollister, California
  13. 1.9 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  14. 1.9 23 km ENE of Soledad, California
  15. 1.6 17 km SSE 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 55 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.