QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

6km W of Templeton, CA

· 5.3 km deep · released about 5.7 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 34 kmMonterey County 91 kmKings County 104 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
5.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 34 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2452 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 5.7 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.7 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 35.5498, -120.7690. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 34 km (21 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Monterey County, CA 91 km (57 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 104 km (64 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Benito County, CA 121 km (75 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Barbara County, CA 131 km (81 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara 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 11km NNE of Cayucos, CA
  2. 1.5 11km NNE of Cambria, CA
  3. 1.6 6km SSE of Parkfield, CA
  4. 2.2 6km SSE of Parkfield, CA
  5. 1.5 10km W of Templeton, CA
  6. 2.4 16km W of Avila Beach, CA
  7. 1.9 20km NE of Arroyo Grande, CA
  8. 1.8 6km NNE of Santa Margarita, CA
  9. 1.8 19km NNE of San Simeon, CA
  10. 1.5 15km N of Cayucos, CA
  11. 1.6 7km SW of Templeton, CA
  12. 2.1 2km NNE of Morro Bay, CA
  13. 1.5 7km W of Templeton, CA
  14. 1.6 12km NE of San Simeon, CA
  15. 1.5 13km NNE of Cambria, 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 4.3 on 2019-12-17 — it released about 14,000 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.