QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8md

22km ESE of Pinnacles, CA

· 16 km deep · released about 14 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 21 kmMonterey County 46 kmMerced County 81 kmSanta Clara County 108 kmKings County 108 kmSanta Cruz County 114 kmFresno County 116 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 1.8 (md)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 21 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2147 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 14 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 760,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 68× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 14 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 36.4847, -120.9050. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 21 km (13 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 46 km (28 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 81 km (50 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 108 km (67 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Kings County, CA 108 km (67 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Santa Cruz County, CA 114 km (71 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 16km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 1.9 12km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 2.1 7km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 2.3 20km N of New Idria, CA
  5. 1.7 13km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 2.5 11km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 1.6 8km N of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 2.9 23km NNE of San Ardo, CA
  9. 1.7 4km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  10. 1.9 13km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  11. 2.5 10km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 1.7 10km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  13. 2.1 21km NE of San Lucas, CA
  14. 1.5 20km NE of San Lucas, CA
  15. 1.6 16km SSE 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 25,000 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.