QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

5km WSW of San Ardo, CA

· 10 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 41 kmSan Benito County 68 kmSan Luis Obispo County 83 kmKings County 103 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
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 41 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2740 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 11 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 1,300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 930,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 83× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 36.0083, -120.9563. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 41 km (26 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 68 km (42 mi) S of here earthquakes near San Benito County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 83 km (51 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kings County, CA 103 km (64 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
Fresno County, CA 143 km (89 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Santa Cruz County, CA 146 km (91 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 25km NW of San Simeon, CA
  2. 1.8 25km NW of San Simeon, CA
  3. 1.7 25km NW of San Simeon, CA
  4. 1.8 25km NW of San Simeon, CA
  5. 3.4 25km NW of San Simeon, CA
  6. 2.1 22km NE of San Lucas, CA
  7. 1.6 2km S of Parkfield, CA
  8. 1.6 2km E of San Ardo, CA
  9. 2.1 4km NW of Parkfield, CA
  10. 2.0 4km W of San Ardo, CA
  11. 3.0 5km NW of Parkfield, CA
  12. 1.6 10km NW of Parkfield, CA
  13. 1.6 18km NW of Parkfield, CA
  14. 1.9 21km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 2.3 15km 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.