QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

5km NNW of Pinnacles, CA

· 3.5 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 8 kmMonterey County 40 kmMerced County 79 kmSanta Clara County 86 kmSanta Cruz County 89 kmStanislaus 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
3.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 8 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2433 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. 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 36.5747, -121.1643. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 8 km (5 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 40 km (25 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 79 km (49 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 86 km (53 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 89 km (56 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Stanislaus County, CA 111 km (69 mi) S of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 2km NE of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 1.6 8km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 2.0 3km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
  4. 1.9 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 2.4 22km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  6. 1.6 12km E of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 2.1 10km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  8. 2.1 13km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 1.7 15km NW of New Idria, CA
  10. 2.5 4km ENE of New Idria, CA
  11. 1.6 16km NW of New Idria, CA
  12. 2.4 9km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  13. 2.5 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 1.6 4km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 1.5 6km NW of Pinnacles, 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 59,000 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.