QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

12km NNE of Cayucos, CA

· 5.5 km deep · released about 7.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 40 kmMonterey County 88 kmKings 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
5.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 40 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2746 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 7.8 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.8 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 35.5432, -120.8457. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 40 km (25 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Monterey County, CA 88 km (55 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 110 km (68 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Benito County, CA 121 km (75 mi) S of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Barbara County, CA 134 km (83 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

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

  1. 1.6 9km SSW of Atascadero, CA
  2. 2.2 3km NNW of Avila Beach, CA
  3. 2.5 4km NW of San Simeon, CA
  4. 1.8 9km W of Templeton, CA
  5. 2.1 9km W of Templeton, CA
  6. 2.0 13km SW of Baywood-Los Osos, CA
  7. 1.9 9km W of Templeton, CA
  8. 3.0 9km W of Templeton, CA
  9. 3.3 9km W of Templeton, CA
  10. 1.6 14km NW of San Simeon, CA
  11. 1.6 7km E of Atascadero, CA
  12. 1.6 8km SE of San Luis Obispo, CA
  13. 1.7 9km W of Templeton, CA
  14. 2.3 15km WNW of San Simeon, CA
  15. 2.1 16km WNW 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.