QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

20km NW of Parkfield, CA

· 4.5 km deep · released about 530 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 70 kmKings County 70 kmSan Luis Obispo County 72 kmSan Benito County 79 kmFresno 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
4.5 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Monterey County, 70 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2078 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 530 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 29,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 20,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.8× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 530 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 36.0272, -120.5875. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 70 km (43 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 70 km (43 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 72 km (45 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
San Benito County, CA 79 km (49 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Fresno County, CA 117 km (73 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno 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. 1.8 10km W of Huron, CA
  2. 1.7 11km ENE of Coalinga, CA
  3. 1.7 8km E of Coalinga, CA
  4. 2.0 14km NW of Parkfield, CA
  5. 1.6 22km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  6. 2.7 13km WSW of Parkfield, CA
  7. 1.9 18km W of New Idria, CA
  8. 2.5 13km E of New Idria, CA
  9. 1.7 18km NW of Parkfield, CA
  10. 2.6 18km NW of Parkfield, CA
  11. 1.5 22km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  12. 2.4 21km NW of Parkfield, CA
  13. 2.0 24km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  14. 1.7 22km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  15. 2.0 5km NW of Parkfield, 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 4.3 on 2019-12-17 — it released about 150 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.