QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8md

12km S of Tres Pinos, CA

· 1.9 km deep · released about 17 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 22 kmMonterey County 50 kmSanta Clara County 68 kmSanta Cruz County 72 kmMerced County 77 kmStanislaus County 101 kmAlameda 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 1.8 (md)
Depth
1.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 22 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2788 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 17 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 870,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 620,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 55× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 17 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 36.6873, -121.3090. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 22 km (13 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 50 km (31 mi) N of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Santa Clara County, CA 68 km (42 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 72 km (45 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Merced County, CA 77 km (48 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 101 km (63 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 3km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 2.0 5km WSW of Ridgemark, CA
  3. 1.5 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
  4. 2.4 2km SW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  5. 1.7 4km NE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 1.8 11km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  7. 1.7 3km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 2.3 11km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  9. 1.6 4km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  10. 2.1 9km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 1.6 7km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 1.5 23km W of Los Banos, CA
  13. 2.1 23km W of Los Banos, CA
  14. 1.5 8km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 1.9 12km E of Tres Pinos, 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 4.6 on 2017-11-13 — it released about 13,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.