QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

10km NNW of Cholame, CA

· 10 km deep · released about 610 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 47 kmKings County 57 kmMonterey County 100 kmSan Benito County 112 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 47 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2764 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 610 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 25,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 18,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 610 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 35.7985, -120.3483. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 47 km (29 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kings County, CA 57 km (35 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Monterey County, CA 100 km (62 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 112 km (70 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Fresno County, CA 124 km (77 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 24km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  2. 1.8 11km ENE of Coalinga, CA
  3. 1.9 2km N of Cholame, CA
  4. 1.9 24km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  5. 1.9 2km NNE of Cholame, CA
  6. 1.5 30km S of Kettleman City, CA
  7. 1.5 4km NNE of Cholame, CA
  8. 1.7 11km N of Avenal, CA
  9. 1.6 12km SSW of Huron, CA
  10. 1.9 10km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  11. 1.7 24km NNW of Simmler, CA
  12. 1.6 5km WNW of Avenal, CA
  13. 1.8 6km ENE of Kettleman City, CA
  14. 1.8 7km SE of Huron, CA
  15. 1.6 7km NW of Avenal, 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 50 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.