QuakeIndex

quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

8km N of Gonzales, CA

· -0.4 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 31 kmMonterey County 39 kmSanta Cruz County 71 kmSanta Clara County 75 kmMerced County 93 kmStanislaus County 116 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
-0.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 31 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2396 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.6 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 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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 36.5778, -121.4272. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 31 km (19 mi) W of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 39 km (24 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Santa Cruz County, CA 71 km (44 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 75 km (47 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Merced County, CA 93 km (58 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 116 km (72 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 2km ESE of Aromas, CA
  2. 2.0 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  3. 1.5 4km ESE of Aromas, CA
  4. 1.6 23km E of Point Sur, CA
  5. 2.1 10km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 2.0 10km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 2.2 10km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 1.9 8km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  9. 2.3 4km ESE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  10. 1.8 4km NE of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.0 6km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 1.9 2km NE of Hollister, CA
  13. 2.6 8km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 2.2 11km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 1.8 5km NNE 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 46,000 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.