QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

4km NNW of Cholame, CA

· 8.0 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 43 kmKings County 57 kmMonterey County 105 kmSan Benito 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
8.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 43 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2952 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 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 95× 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 35.7593, -120.3112. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 43 km (27 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kings County, CA 57 km (35 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Monterey County, CA 105 km (65 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 118 km (73 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Fresno County, CA 126 km (78 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  2. 2.8 8km NE of Coalinga, CA
  3. 1.8 10km NW of Parkfield, CA
  4. 2.9 10km NW of Avenal, CA
  5. 2.5 10km NW of Avenal, CA
  6. 1.5 10km NW of Avenal, CA
  7. 4.0 9km NW of Avenal, CA
  8. 1.5 8km WNW of Templeton, CA
  9. 1.8 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  10. 1.7 22km NW of Parkfield, CA
  11. 2.1 5km SSW of Huron, CA
  12. 2.5 21km NW of Parkfield, CA
  13. 1.8 11km NW of Parkfield, CA
  14. 1.6 18km NW of Parkfield, CA
  15. 1.8 2km SSE of Avenal, 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.