QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

2km NE of Pinnacles, CA

· 6.3 km deep · released about 750 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 9 kmMonterey County 38 kmMerced County 81 kmSanta Clara County 90 kmSanta Cruz County 94 kmStanislaus County 114 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
6.3 km below the surface
Felt
7 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
San Benito County, 9 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2322 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 7 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 750 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 20,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 14,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 750 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 36.5437, -121.1307. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 9 km (5 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 38 km (23 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 81 km (50 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 90 km (56 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 94 km (58 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Stanislaus County, CA 114 km (71 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

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

  1. 2.6 5km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 1.6 6km ENE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  3. 1.9 13km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  4. 2.0 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  5. 1.6 12km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  6. 2.2 10km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  7. 1.6 24km NE of King City, CA
  8. 1.6 28km SW of South Dos Palos, CA
  9. 2.4 16km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  10. 2.3 15km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.2 8km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 1.6 12km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 1.8 5km NNE of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 2.6 11km NNE of New Idria, CA
  15. 2.0 16km SW 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 4.7 on 2019-10-15 — it released about 470 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.