QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

20km SW of New Idria, CA

· 10 km deep · released about 9.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 42 kmMonterey County 43 kmKings County 95 kmMerced County 101 kmSan Luis Obispo County 107 kmFresno County 118 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
San Benito County, 42 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1851 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 9.6 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 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 99× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.6 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 36.2948, -120.8390. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 42 km (26 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 43 km (27 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 95 km (59 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Merced County, CA 101 km (63 mi) S of here earthquakes near Merced County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 107 km (66 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 118 km (73 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 6km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 2.1 24km NE of King City, CA
  3. 1.8 22km NNE of San Ardo, CA
  4. 1.7 6km NNE of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 1.6 12km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 1.6 15km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 2.4 6km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 2.0 7km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 2.2 7km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  10. 1.9 9km NNE of New Idria, CA
  11. 1.5 4km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 2.0 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 2.8 6km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 1.7 10km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 1.6 7km NW 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 4.3 on 2021-01-02 — it released about 9,400 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.