QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

23km WSW of New Idria, CA

· 6.0 km deep · released about 6.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 36 kmMonterey County 38 kmMerced County 98 kmKings County 101 kmSan Luis Obispo County 112 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
6.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 36 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2207 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 6.8 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 2,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.8 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 36.3278, -120.9003. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 36 km (22 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 38 km (24 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 98 km (61 mi) S of here earthquakes near Merced County
Kings County, CA 101 km (63 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 112 km (70 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 121 km (75 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 6km S of San Lucas, CA
  2. 2.5 21km NW of Parkfield, CA
  3. 1.5 11km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 1.5 18km NW of Parkfield, CA
  5. 1.6 23km SW of New Idria, CA
  6. 1.9 5km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 1.7 6km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 1.7 13km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 1.6 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 1.7 13km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.5 16km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 2.3 21km NW of Parkfield, CA
  13. 1.8 9km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 2.2 8km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 2.6 5km ENE of New Idria, 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 51,000 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.