QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

14km SW of Cantua Creek, CA

· 18 km deep · released about 74 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 61 kmKings County 69 kmFresno County 79 kmMonterey County 81 kmMerced County 88 kmMadera County 106 kmSan Luis Obispo County 116 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
San Benito County, 61 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2790 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 74 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 140,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 13× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 74 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 36.4335, -120.4400. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 61 km (38 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Kings County, CA 69 km (43 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Fresno County, CA 79 km (49 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Monterey County, CA 81 km (51 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 88 km (55 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Merced County
Madera County, CA 106 km (66 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Madera 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. 2.3 8km W of New Idria, CA
  2. 1.6 16km NW of Coalinga, CA
  3. 2.1 22km NE of San Lucas, CA
  4. 1.6 16km NNW of Coalinga, CA
  5. 1.6 20km E of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 3.1 4km NNW of Cantua Creek, CA
  7. 1.7 11km N of Avenal, CA
  8. 1.7 23km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 1.6 12km SSW of Huron, CA
  10. 2.0 8km NW of Cantua Creek, CA
  11. 2.0 19km S of New Idria, CA
  12. 1.8 7km SE of Huron, CA
  13. 1.9 7km E of Huron, CA
  14. 1.7 16km SE of New Idria, CA
  15. 2.0 20km SW of New Idria, 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 410 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.