QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9ml

20km S of Cantua Creek, CA

· 12 km deep · released about 590 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 56 kmSan Benito County 73 kmFresno County 78 kmMonterey County 87 kmMerced County 101 kmSan Luis Obispo County 105 kmMadera County 111 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 (ml)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Kings County, 56 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2521 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 590 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 26,000× 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 590 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 36.3328, -120.3522. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 56 km (35 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Benito County, CA 73 km (45 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Fresno County, CA 78 km (49 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Monterey County, CA 87 km (54 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 101 km (63 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Merced County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 105 km (65 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 11km SW of Stratford, CA
  2. 1.9 11km NNW of Kettleman City, CA
  3. 2.6 10km NNE of Coalinga, CA
  4. 2.0 12km NNE of Coalinga, CA
  5. 2.5 10km N of Coalinga, CA
  6. 1.9 10km SW of Stratford, CA
  7. 1.6 22km NE of San Ardo, CA
  8. 2.5 7km WNW of Raisin City, CA
  9. 1.6 18km S of New Idria, CA
  10. 2.4 22km NE of San Lucas, CA
  11. 1.8 2km NE of New Idria, CA
  12. 2.1 2km NE of New Idria, CA
  13. 2.0 19km SSW of Cantua Creek, CA
  14. 1.7 22km NE of San Lucas, CA
  15. 2.1 23km 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 51 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.