QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

5km NNW of Pinnacles, CA

· 6.4 km deep · released about 270 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 9 kmMonterey County 39 kmMerced County 80 kmSanta Clara County 85 kmSanta Cruz County 89 kmStanislaus County 111 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
6.4 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
San Benito County, 9 km ENE
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. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 270 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 57,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 40,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 270 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 36.5745, -121.1708. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 9 km (5 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 39 km (24 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 80 km (49 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 85 km (53 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 89 km (55 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Stanislaus County, CA 111 km (69 mi) S of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 12km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 2.1 3km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 1.7 2km NNE of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 1.5 17km NE of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 1.7 2km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 1.6 8km WNW of Greenfield, CA
  7. 1.7 12km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 2.2 12km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 3.0 2km NW of Hollister, CA
  10. 1.5 2km NW of Hollister, CA
  11. 2.8 3km NW of Hollister, CA
  12. 2.3 20km SW of New Idria, CA
  13. 1.5 19km ENE of Tres Pinos, CA
  14. 1.7 30km NE of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 2.2 7km NNW of Pinnacles, 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 4.7 on 2019-10-15 — it released about 1,300 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.