QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5ml

2km ENE of Lopez Point, CA

· 8.7 km deep · released about 2.4 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 31 kmSan Benito County 77 kmSanta Cruz County 117 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 3.5 (ml)
Depth
8.7 km below the surface
Felt
10 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Monterey County, 31 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2098 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 10 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.4 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 70,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 3,100× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,200× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.4 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.1× 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 36.0263, -121.5443. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 31 km (20 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 77 km (48 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 117 km (73 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 122 km (76 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 5km WNW of San Simeon, CA
  2. 2.4 6km WNW of San Simeon, CA
  3. 1.9 22km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
  4. 1.5 16km NNE of Lopez Point, CA
  5. 1.6 11km SW of King City, CA
  6. 1.6 2km WSW of King City, CA
  7. 1.6 13km W of San Ardo, CA
  8. 1.7 8km ESE of Greenfield, CA
  9. 2.1 38km SSW of Lopez Point, CA
  10. 2.5 33km S of Lopez Point, CA
  11. 2.2 13km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  12. 2.6 13km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  13. 1.9 3km SE of Lopez Point, CA
  14. 1.6 16km ESE of Point Sur, CA
  15. 2.9 22km SSE of Lopez Point, 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.