QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2ml

13km N of Cayucos, CA

· 7.4 km deep · released about 1 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 42 kmMonterey County 86 kmKings County 111 kmSan Benito County 119 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 3.2 (ml)
Depth
7.4 km below the surface
Felt
182 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 42 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3034 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 182 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 170,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,400× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,200× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.1× more

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 35.5585, -120.8688. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 42 km (26 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Monterey County, CA 86 km (53 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 111 km (69 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Benito County, CA 119 km (74 mi) S of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Barbara County, CA 136 km (85 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 3km SSE of San Ardo, CA
  2. 1.5 11km NE of San Simeon, CA
  3. 1.7 17km NW of San Simeon, CA
  4. 1.6 12km NE of San Simeon, CA
  5. 1.6 12km NE of San Simeon, CA
  6. 1.8 8km W of Templeton, CA
  7. 1.6 9km ENE of San Simeon, CA
  8. 1.9 20km NNE of San Simeon, CA
  9. 1.6 14km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  10. 1.6 10km N of Cambria, CA
  11. 1.5 6km SSW of San Ardo, CA
  12. 2.6 10km N of Cambria, CA
  13. 1.9 7km WNW of San Simeon, CA
  14. 2.0 14km NE of San Simeon, CA
  15. 1.5 6km SW of San Ardo, 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.