QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

6km SW of San Ardo, CA

· 10 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 44 kmSan Benito County 72 kmSan Luis Obispo County 79 kmKings County 102 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 44 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1991 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 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 970,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 86× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 35.9760, -120.9473. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 44 km (27 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 72 km (45 mi) S of here earthquakes near San Benito County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 79 km (49 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kings County, CA 102 km (64 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
Fresno County, CA 145 km (90 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Santa Cruz County, CA 149 km (93 mi) SE 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

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

  1. 1.9 23km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 2.3 3km SE of San Ardo, CA
  3. 2.8 9km WNW of Templeton, CA
  4. 2.3 20km SW of New Idria, CA
  5. 1.8 7km SW of San Ardo, CA
  6. 1.7 19km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
  7. 2.3 9km SSW of San Lucas, CA
  8. 2.3 19km NW of Parkfield, CA
  9. 2.6 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
  10. 1.9 7km WNW of Paso Robles, CA
  11. 2.8 22km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  12. 2.4 11km SSW of Lake Nacimiento, CA
  13. 3.1 8km NW of Parkfield, CA
  14. 3.1 9km NW of Parkfield, CA
  15. 2.3 6km 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.