Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5md
23km E of San Ardo, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (md)
- Depth
- 3.5 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Monterey County, 63 km WNW
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2565 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 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 36.0560, -120.6503. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monterey County, CA | 63 km (39 mi) | ESE of here | earthquakes near Monterey County |
| San Benito County, CA | 73 km (45 mi) | SSE of here | earthquakes near San Benito County |
| Kings County, CA | 75 km (47 mi) | W of here | earthquakes near Kings County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 76 km (48 mi) | NNW of here | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Fresno County, CA | 119 km (74 mi) | SW of here | earthquakes near Fresno County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
45 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.3 15km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.5 13km NNW of Coalinga, CA
- 1.8 2km NE of New Idria, CA
- 3.0 2km NE of New Idria, CA
- 1.8 21km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.7 2km ENE of New Idria, CA
- 1.9 19km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.6 13km ESE of Coalinga, CA
- 1.8 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.7 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 2.0 3km NE of New Idria, CA
- 1.7 3km NE of New Idria, CA
- 2.3 3km NE of New Idria, CA
- 1.9 3km ENE of New Idria, CA
- 3.1 4km NE of New Idria, 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 5,100 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.