QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

8km NE of Coalinga, CA

· 11 km deep · released about 280 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 47 kmSan Benito County 83 kmFresno County 86 kmMonterey County 90 kmSan Luis Obispo County 91 kmMerced 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 2.6 (md)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Kings County, 47 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1510 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 280 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 53,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 38,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 280 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 36.1970, -120.3107. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 47 km (29 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Benito County, CA 83 km (52 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Fresno County, CA 86 km (53 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Monterey County, CA 90 km (56 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 91 km (56 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Merced County, CA 117 km (73 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Merced County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 23km NW of Parkfield, CA
  2. 1.6 13km NW of Avenal, CA
  3. 2.3 5km SSE of Parkfield, CA
  4. 3.8 15km SSE of New Idria, CA
  5. 1.9 9km NNW of Avenal, CA
  6. 1.5 7km NNW of Cholame, CA
  7. 1.7 20km SW of New Idria, CA
  8. 1.8 25km NW of Parkfield, CA
  9. 1.9 23km NW of Parkfield, CA
  10. 1.6 19km NNW of Coalinga, CA
  11. 1.6 5km NW of Parkfield, CA
  12. 3.0 16km ENE of New Idria, CA
  13. 2.1 12km W of Cantua Creek, CA
  14. 2.6 2km SSE of Parkfield, CA
  15. 2.1 13km 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 290 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.