QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

23km SSW of Los Banos, CA

· 2.5 km deep · released about 9 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 31 kmMerced County 42 kmSanta Clara County 76 kmMonterey County 77 kmStanislaus County 77 kmSanta Cruz County 95 kmMadera County 114 kmFresno County 117 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
2.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 31 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2517 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 9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 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 36.8703, -120.9588. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 31 km (19 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Merced County, CA 42 km (26 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 76 km (47 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Monterey County, CA 77 km (48 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Stanislaus County, CA 77 km (48 mi) S of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Santa Cruz County, CA 95 km (59 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz 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. 2.1 7km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 1.7 16km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 1.9 16km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 2.2 17km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 1.7 13km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 2.1 2km SSE of Ridgemark, CA
  7. 2.2 3km N of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 3.0 16km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 1.7 15km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  10. 1.7 15km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.5 11km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  12. 2.4 5km SW of Tres Pinos, CA
  13. 2.1 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 1.6 14km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  15. 2.2 3km WSW of Ridgemark, 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 4.7 on 2019-10-15 — it released about 39,000 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.