Earthquake near Salinas, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 69 km (43 mi) from the epicentre. In Salinas, 33 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Likely felt in: Hollister 21 km, intensity III · Soledad 30 km, intensity II · Salinas 33 km, intensity II · Prunedale 36 km, intensity II · Greenfield 41 km, intensity II · Gilroy 43 km, intensity II · Watsonville 49 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.8 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 45,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.6 about 3.8 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 7.9× more

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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.7 on 2019-10-15 — about 46 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 21 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 7 km NE of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
2. 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 47 km NW of this epicentre Mar 11, 1910
3. 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 4 km SE of this epicentre Aug 6, 1916
4. 5.5 7 km SW of Hollister, California · 19 km NW of this epicentre Jun 24, 1939
5. 5.5 12 km S of Tres Pinos, California · 2 km WSW of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 36.6888, -121.2827. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 12km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA 05:37 UTC
2. 1.9 4km ENE of Pinnacles, CA 22:37 UTC
3. 2.5 15km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA 20:11 UTC
4. 1.9 5km NNE of Pinnacles, CA 11:32 UTC
5. 2.1 5km S of San Juan Bautista, CA 05:18 UTC
6. 2.1 5km S of San Juan Bautista, CA 05:14 UTC
7. 2.6 5km S of San Juan Bautista, CA 05:05 UTC
8. 2.6 4km NNW of Pinnacles, CA 21:37 UTC
9. 1.7 3km E of Aromas, CA 18:45 UTC
10. 1.6 12km NW of Pinnacles, CA 11:43 UTC
11. 2.2 12km NW of Pinnacles, CA 10:04 UTC
12. 1.6 20km W of New Idria, CA 08:05 UTC
13. 1.6 10km NW of Pinnacles, CA 03:45 UTC
14. 2.5 10km NW of Pinnacles, CA 01:29 UTC
15. 2.4 10km NW of Pinnacles, CA 16:26 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 23:11 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

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.