QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

24km NE of King City, CA

· 8.1 km deep · released about 38 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 30 kmMonterey County 36 kmMerced County 94 kmKings County 107 kmSanta Clara County 116 kmSan Luis Obispo County 118 kmSanta Cruz 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
8.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 30 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3148 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 38 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 390,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 280,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 25× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 38 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 36.3680, -120.9500. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 30 km (18 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 36 km (22 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 94 km (58 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Kings County, CA 107 km (66 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Santa Clara County, CA 116 km (72 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 118 km (73 mi) NNW 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

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

  1. 2.3 5km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 2.1 5km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 1.7 5km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 2.1 11km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 2.0 10km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 1.7 6km NNE of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 1.6 2km SE of San Ardo, CA
  8. 2.0 12km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 2.8 3km SE of San Ardo, CA
  10. 1.6 20km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.4 3km SE of San Ardo, CA
  12. 3.0 19km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 2.3 15km ESE of Tres Pinos, CA
  14. 1.6 3km SE of San Ardo, CA
  15. 1.6 15km NW 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 5,800 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.