QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

16km NNE of Lopez Point, CA

· 13 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 19 kmSan Benito County 63 kmSanta Cruz County 106 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 19 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1956 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 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 36.1490, -121.4982. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 19 km (12 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 63 km (39 mi) SW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 106 km (66 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 120 km (75 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 127 km (79 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Merced County, CA 135 km (84 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 8km WNW of Greenfield, CA
  2. 1.7 19km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
  3. 2.3 9km SSW of San Lucas, CA
  4. 2.2 2km NNE of Carmel Valley Village, CA
  5. 2.5 17km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
  6. 2.3 21km ESE of Point Sur, CA
  7. 1.8 6km ESE of San Lucas, CA
  8. 1.7 25km SE of Lopez Point, CA
  9. 1.9 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.