QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.8mw

15km SSE of New Idria, CA

· 17 km deep · released about 7.3 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 56 kmMonterey County 65 kmKings County 74 kmFresno County 98 kmMerced County 101 kmSan Luis Obispo County 102 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 3.8 (mw)
Depth
17 km below the surface
Felt
29 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
San Benito County, 56 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1754 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 29 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 23,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 7.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 15× more

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 36.2965, -120.5927. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 56 km (35 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 65 km (40 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 74 km (46 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Fresno County, CA 98 km (61 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Merced County, CA 101 km (62 mi) S of here earthquakes near Merced County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 102 km (63 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo 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. 1.8 24km NW of Parkfield, CA
  2. 1.5 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
  3. 1.8 10km WNW of New Idria, CA
  4. 1.6 23km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  5. 2.1 12km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 1.7 25km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 3.2 7km NW of Parkfield, CA
  8. 1.7 13km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 2.2 22km NE of San Lucas, CA
  10. 1.6 11km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.4 10km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 2.3 12km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 1.8 12km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 1.5 11km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 1.7 12km SE 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 4.0 on 2018-11-27 — it released about 2.1 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.