QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

15km SSE of Cantua Creek, CA

· 16 km deep · released about 44 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 53 kmFresno County 70 kmSan Benito County 78 kmMonterey County 95 kmMerced County 100 kmMadera County 104 kmSan Luis Obispo 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kings County, 53 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2385 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 44 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 340,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 240,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 44 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 36.3740, -120.2663. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 53 km (33 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Fresno County, CA 70 km (43 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
San Benito County, CA 78 km (48 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 95 km (59 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 100 km (62 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Merced County
Madera County, CA 104 km (64 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Madera County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 23km NE of San Ardo, CA
  2. 2.0 10km WSW of Huron, CA
  3. 2.3 17km NW of Parkfield, CA
  4. 2.1 22km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  5. 1.6 27km NE of San Ardo, CA
  6. 2.1 17km NW of Parkfield, CA
  7. 2.2 17km N of Coalinga, CA
  8. 1.8 19km NW of Parkfield, CA
  9. 2.2 22km NE of San Ardo, CA
  10. 1.9 9km SSE of Huron, CA
  11. 1.8 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  12. 3.2 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  13. 1.9 22km NE of San Ardo, CA
  14. 1.6 5km N of Avenal, CA
  15. 2.0 16km NW of Parkfield, 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 680 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.