QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

23 km SE of Big Sur, California

· 18 km deep · released about 19 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 32 kmSan Benito County 74 kmSanta Cruz County 105 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 32 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3384 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 19 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 790,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 560,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 50× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 19 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 36.1140, -121.6312. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 32 km (20 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 74 km (46 mi) SW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 105 km (65 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 134 km (83 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 32km S of Lopez Point, CA
  2. 2.6 32km S of Lopez Point, CA
  3. 2.5 33km S of Lopez Point, CA
  4. 2.0 27km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  5. 2.9 16 km NNW of San Simeon, California
  6. 2.0 11 km SE of Big Sur, California
  7. 1.7 27 km SE of Big Sur, California
  8. 1.6 42 km W of Lockwood, California
  9. 2.7 8 km ENE of Big Sur, California
  10. 1.6 26 km NW of San Simeon, California
  11. 1.8 23 km SE of Big Sur, California
  12. 1.7 16 km WSW of Lockwood, California
  13. 1.6 18 km NW of Big Sur, California
  14. 2.1 38 km WNW of San Simeon, California
  15. 1.9 21 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.