QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

20km SW of Gustine, CA

· 1.1 km deep · released about 7.1 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Merced County 41 kmSanta Clara County 45 kmStanislaus County 48 kmSan Benito County 61 kmSanta Cruz County 74 kmAlameda County 84 kmSan Joaquin County 87 kmMonterey County 102 kmContra Costa County 109 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
1.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Merced County, 41 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1927 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 7.1 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.1 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 37.1525, -121.1868. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Merced County, CA 41 km (26 mi) W of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 45 km (28 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Stanislaus County, CA 48 km (30 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
San Benito County, CA 61 km (38 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 74 km (46 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Alameda County, CA 84 km (52 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Alameda County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 18km SSW of Gustine, CA
  2. 1.8 15km E of Seven Trees, CA
  3. 1.8 15km E of Seven Trees, CA
  4. 2.1 15km E of Seven Trees, CA
  5. 1.8 24km SSW of Los Banos, CA
  6. 1.7 3km E of Aromas, CA
  7. 1.6 24km SSW of Los Banos, CA
  8. 3.1 5km S of Ridgemark, CA
  9. 1.9 2km WNW of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 1.5 5km SE of Aromas, CA
  11. 1.6 15km E of Seven Trees, CA
  12. 1.7 3km SSW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  13. 1.7 4km NNW of Hollister, CA
  14. 2.8 4km NNW of Hollister, CA
  15. 2.2 9km NE of Gilroy, 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 4.2 on 2021-01-17 — it released about 8,500 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.