QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1ml

5km NE of Tres Pinos, CA

· 8.9 km deep · released about 1,200 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 30 kmSanta Clara County 57 kmMerced County 65 kmMonterey County 65 kmSanta Cruz County 67 kmStanislaus County 86 kmAlameda County 107 kmSan Mateo 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 3.1 (ml)
Depth
8.9 km below the surface
Felt
117 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
San Benito County, 30 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2241 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 117 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,200 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 290,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 13,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 9,100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,200 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.2× 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.

Where

Epicentre 36.8243, -121.2883. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 30 km (18 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Clara County, CA 57 km (35 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Merced County, CA 65 km (40 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Monterey County, CA 65 km (40 mi) N of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Santa Cruz County, CA 67 km (42 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Stanislaus County, CA 86 km (53 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

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

  1. 2.1 7km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  2. 1.8 7km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  3. 2.6 2km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  4. 1.9 4km WSW of Hollister, CA
  5. 1.8 7km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  6. 1.9 11km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  7. 2.1 10km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  8. 1.5 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  9. 1.9 5km NE of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 2.4 9km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.1 7km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  12. 1.9 5km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 1.6 4km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 2.5 6km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 1.9 9km SSE of San Juan Bautista, 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 300 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.