QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

21km NNW of Coalinga, CA

· 14 km deep · released about 270 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 61 kmSan Benito County 68 kmMonterey County 81 kmFresno County 84 kmMerced County 101 kmSan Luis Obispo County 104 kmMadera County 115 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 2.6 (md)
Depth
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kings County, 61 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2311 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 270 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 57,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 40,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 270 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 36.3237, -120.4182. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 61 km (38 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Benito County, CA 68 km (42 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 81 km (50 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Fresno County, CA 84 km (52 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Merced County, CA 101 km (63 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Merced County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 104 km (65 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 22km NNE of San Ardo, CA
  2. 1.8 19km NW of Parkfield, CA
  3. 2.2 22km NE of San Ardo, CA
  4. 1.6 21km NE of San Ardo, CA
  5. 2.4 23km WSW of New Idria, CA
  6. 1.9 9km SSE of Huron, CA
  7. 1.8 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  8. 3.2 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  9. 1.9 22km NE of San Ardo, CA
  10. 1.6 5km N of Avenal, CA
  11. 2.0 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  12. 1.8 8km NE of Coalinga, CA
  13. 1.7 10km SSW of Huron, CA
  14. 2.4 26km NNW of New Idria, CA
  15. 2.3 23km NNE of San Ardo, 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 4.0 on 2018-11-27 — it released about 110 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.