QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

16km SSE of New Idria, CA

· 16 km deep · released about 43 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 55 kmMonterey County 61 kmKings County 77 kmSan Luis Obispo County 100 kmMerced County 102 kmFresno County 103 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 55 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2616 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 43 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 36.2788, -120.6368. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 55 km (34 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 61 km (38 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 77 km (48 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 100 km (62 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Merced County, CA 102 km (63 mi) S of here earthquakes near Merced County
Fresno County, CA 103 km (64 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 12km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 1.5 23km E of San Ardo, CA
  3. 1.6 15km NW of Parkfield, CA
  4. 2.0 4km NNW of Huron, CA
  5. 1.7 9km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 1.8 5km NW of Parkfield, CA
  7. 1.6 13km SW of Huron, CA
  8. 2.3 11km NW of Parkfield, CA
  9. 1.6 23km E of San Ardo, CA
  10. 1.7 8km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.0 10km NNW of New Idria, CA
  12. 1.9 19km SSW of Cantua Creek, CA
  13. 1.5 12km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 1.8 3km SSE of San Ardo, CA
  15. 1.6 4km SSE of San Ardo, 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 710 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.