QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

4km NNW of Pinnacles, CA

· 7.9 km deep · released about 20 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 8 kmMonterey County 39 kmMerced County 80 kmSanta Clara County 87 kmSanta Cruz County 91 kmStanislaus 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
7.9 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
San Benito County, 8 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2169 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 20 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 760,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 540,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 48× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 20 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 36.5683, -121.1538. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 8 km (5 mi) SW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 39 km (24 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 80 km (49 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 87 km (54 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 91 km (56 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Stanislaus County, CA 111 km (69 mi) S of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 6km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  2. 1.8 4km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  3. 3.0 5km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  4. 3.3 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  5. 2.0 15km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  6. 2.1 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  7. 1.6 30km NE of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 2.1 32km NE of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 2.7 15km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 1.6 23km WSW of New Idria, CA
  11. 2.8 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 1.9 8km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 1.8 11km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  14. 1.6 10km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 1.7 8km SSW of Tres Pinos, 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 18,000 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.