QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

12km SE of Pinnacles, CA

· 6.1 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 17 kmMonterey County 35 kmMerced County 86 kmSanta Clara County 102 kmSanta Cruz County 106 kmKings County 118 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
6.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 17 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3174 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 5.9 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 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 36.4630, -121.0400. 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 35 km (22 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 86 km (54 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 102 km (64 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 106 km (66 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Kings County, CA 118 km (73 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. 2.0 3km N of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 2.0 7km N of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 1.7 2km SSW of New Idria, CA
  4. 1.8 10km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  5. 1.6 23km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 2.0 7km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 2.6 12km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 2.0 22km ENE of Lopez Point, CA
  9. 1.7 10km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 1.6 24km NNE of San Ardo, CA
  11. 1.6 21km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 2.1 24km NE of King City, CA
  13. 2.0 4km E of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 1.5 12km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 1.6 9km NNW of Pinnacles, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.6 on 2017-11-13 — it released about 38,000 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.