QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

27km NE of San Ardo, CA

· 8.9 km deep · released about 7.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 58 kmSan Benito County 61 kmKings County 78 kmSan Luis Obispo County 90 kmFresno County 112 kmMerced 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
8.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 58 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2294 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 7.8 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 1,900,000× 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 3.0 120× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.8 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 36.1718, -120.6763. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 58 km (36 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 61 km (38 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Kings County, CA 78 km (49 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 90 km (56 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 112 km (70 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Merced County, CA 114 km (71 mi) S of here earthquakes near Merced County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 23km WSW of New Idria, CA
  2. 1.7 19km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 1.6 21km NE of San Lucas, CA
  4. 1.7 9km W of San Ardo, CA
  5. 2.3 22km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  6. 3.0 18km S of Cantua Creek, CA
  7. 1.5 11km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 1.8 11km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 1.9 24km NE of King City, CA
  10. 1.8 22km NE of San Lucas, CA
  11. 2.0 22km NE of San Ardo, CA
  12. 1.9 22km NNE of San Ardo, CA
  13. 2.1 22km NE of San Ardo, CA
  14. 3.9 22km NE of San Ardo, CA
  15. 1.6 16km SE 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 4.3 on 2019-12-17 — it released about 10,000 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.