QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

26km W of Los Banos, CA

· 6.8 km deep · released about 280 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Merced County 41 kmSan Benito County 48 kmSanta Clara County 52 kmStanislaus County 59 kmSanta Cruz County 76 kmMonterey County 90 kmAlameda County 95 kmSan Joaquin County 100 kmSan Mateo 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 2.6 (md)
Depth
6.8 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Merced County, 41 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2777 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 280 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 53,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 38,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 280 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 37.0418, -121.1473. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Merced County, CA 41 km (26 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
San Benito County, CA 48 km (30 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Clara County, CA 52 km (32 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Stanislaus County, CA 59 km (37 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Santa Cruz County, CA 76 km (48 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Monterey County, CA 90 km (56 mi) N of here earthquakes near Monterey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 3km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
  2. 2.2 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  3. 2.7 8km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 1.9 13km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  5. 1.7 23km NE of Hollister, CA
  6. 3.1 11km ENE of San Martin, CA
  7. 1.9 11km ENE of San Martin, CA
  8. 1.7 10km NNE of Tres Pinos, CA
  9. 1.8 4km ESE of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 2.2 10km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.1 10km WSW of Ridgemark, CA
  12. 1.6 10km NNE of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 1.9 10km ENE of Morgan Hill, CA
  14. 1.9 3km NNW of Hollister, CA
  15. 1.7 7km WSW of Gilroy, 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 790 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.