QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5mw

27 km NE of Greenfield, California

· 5.1 km deep · released about 2.9 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 17 kmMonterey County 38 kmMerced County 84 kmSanta Clara County 104 kmSanta Cruz County 108 kmKings County 115 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 3.5 (mw)
Depth
5.1 km below the surface
Felt
45 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
San Benito County, 17 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3371 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 45 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.9 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 59,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.9 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 6× 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 36.4725, -120.9975. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 17 km (11 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 38 km (24 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 84 km (52 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 104 km (64 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 108 km (67 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Kings County, CA 115 km (71 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 22 km NE of Soledad, California
  2. 1.9 24 km NE of Soledad, California
  3. 2.0 5 km SE of Tres Pinos, California
  4. 2.5 11 km S of Tres Pinos, California
  5. 2.8 11 km S of Tres Pinos, California
  6. 2.1 9 km SSW of Tres Pinos, California
  7. 1.8 24 km NE of San Lucas, California
  8. 1.5 23 km NE of San Lucas, California
  9. 2.9 11 km S of Tres Pinos, California
  10. 1.9 24 km NE of San Lucas, California
  11. 2.5 24 km NE of San Lucas, California
  12. 2.1 25 km ENE of Greenfield, California
  13. 2.5 18 km WNW of Three Rocks, California
  14. 1.7 12 km S of Tres Pinos, California
  15. 1.7 12 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 11 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.