Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5md
21km NW of Parkfield, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (md)
- Depth
- 3.7 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Monterey County, 69 km WNW
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2741 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 6.2 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 6.2 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 36.0340, -120.5947. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monterey County, CA | 69 km (43 mi) | ESE of here | earthquakes near Monterey County |
| Kings County, CA | 70 km (44 mi) | W of here | earthquakes near Kings County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 73 km (45 mi) | N of here | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| San Benito County, CA | 78 km (48 mi) | SE of here | earthquakes near San Benito County |
| Fresno County, CA | 117 km (72 mi) | SW of here | earthquakes near Fresno County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
44 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 3.0 5km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.8 4km N of New Idria, CA
- 2.2 2km NNE of New Idria, CA
- 2.5 4km NNE of New Idria, CA
- 1.6 10km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.6 18km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 2.1 11km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 3.5 4km SSE of Parkfield, CA
- 1.7 10km SSE of Huron, CA
- 1.6 10km NNW of Cholame, CA
- 2.2 2km NE of Cholame, CA
- 1.8 22km ENE of San Ardo, CA
- 1.6 7km E of Coalinga, CA
- 1.9 7km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.5 10km SW of Huron, 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 4.0 on 2018-11-27 — it released about 4,900 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.