QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1ml

9km NNW of Cholame, CA

· 9.5 km deep · released about 1,500 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 46 kmKings County 57 kmMonterey County 100 kmSan Benito County 113 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 3.1 (ml)
Depth
9.5 km below the surface
Felt
19 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 46 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2476 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 19 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,500 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 220,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 9,800× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,500 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.6× more

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 35.7933, -120.3447. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 46 km (29 mi) NNE 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 113 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

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

  1. 1.5 12km W of Huron, CA
  2. 1.8 8km SSW of Kettleman City, CA
  3. 1.7 8km SSW of Kettleman City, CA
  4. 1.6 6km N of Avenal, CA
  5. 1.6 6km SSW of Kettleman City, CA
  6. 1.7 8km SSW of Kettleman City, CA
  7. 1.5 11km SW of Kettleman City, CA
  8. 2.0 8km WNW of Templeton, CA
  9. 3.1 10km NW of Avenal, CA
  10. 2.0 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
  11. 1.6 11km NW of Avenal, CA
  12. 1.6 11km NW of Avenal, CA
  13. 2.4 12km WNW of Avenal, CA
  14. 2.6 9km NW of Avenal, CA
  15. 3.1 5km NW of Parkfield, 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 19 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.