QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

9km SSW of Carmel By The Sea, CA

· 8.6 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 60 kmMonterey County 62 kmSan Benito County 78 kmSanta Clara County 86 kmSan Mateo 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
8.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 60 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2222 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 10 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 95× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 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 36.4732, -121.9432. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 60 km (37 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Monterey County, CA 62 km (38 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 78 km (49 mi) W of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Clara County, CA 86 km (54 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Mateo County, CA 111 km (69 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Merced County, CA 135 km (84 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Merced County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 8km ESE of Prunedale, CA
  2. 1.9 14km N of Lopez Point, CA
  3. 2.1 7km ENE of Chualar, CA
  4. 2.3 4km SW of Moss Landing, CA
  5. 1.8 20km E of Point Sur, CA
  6. 1.8 16km NNW of Lopez Point, CA
  7. 1.7 14km SW of Santa Cruz, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.