QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

29 km SSE of Big Sur, California

· 13 km deep · released about 5.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 35 kmSan Benito County 79 kmSanta Cruz 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 35 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3380 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 5.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,700,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.6 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 36.0462, -121.6263. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 35 km (22 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 79 km (49 mi) SW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 113 km (70 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 129 km (80 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

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

  1. 2.3 7km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
  2. 1.9 11km NW of Point Sur, CA
  3. 1.8 6km SE of Lopez Point, CA
  4. 1.6 24km SE of Lopez Point, CA
  5. 1.7 22km NW of San Simeon, CA
  6. 2.0 22km ENE of Lopez Point, CA
  7. 1.9 29km WNW of San Simeon, CA
  8. 1.6 22km NW of San Simeon, CA
  9. 1.6 7km N of Lopez Point, CA
  10. 2.1 18km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  11. 1.7 22km NW of San Simeon, CA
  12. 2.2 16km WSW of Soledad, CA
  13. 2.2 22km NW of San Simeon, CA
  14. 1.8 23km NW of San Simeon, CA
  15. 2.2 22km NW of San Simeon, CA

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.