QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

27 km SE of Big Sur, California

· 13 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 33 kmSan Benito County 77 kmSanta Cruz County 110 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 33 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3244 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 10 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 92× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 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 36.0717, -121.6245. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 33 km (21 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 77 km (48 mi) SW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 110 km (68 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 131 km (81 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

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

  1. 1.6 14km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  2. 1.8 24km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  3. 2.3 12km SW of Carmel Valley Village, CA
  4. 1.7 26km NW of San Simeon, CA
  5. 2.1 13km E of Point Sur, CA
  6. 2.4 27km E of Point Sur, CA
  7. 2.2 22km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  8. 1.5 17km N of Lopez Point, CA
  9. 1.9 22km N of San Simeon, CA
  10. 1.9 25km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  11. 2.3 7km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
  12. 1.9 11km NW of Point Sur, CA
  13. 1.8 6km SE of Lopez Point, CA
  14. 1.6 24km SE of Lopez Point, CA
  15. 1.7 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.