QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

23km NW of Parkfield, CA

· 4.4 km deep · released about 460 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 67 kmKings County 72 kmSan Luis Obispo County 74 kmSan Benito County 76 kmFresno County 117 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
4.4 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Monterey County, 67 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1511 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 460 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 33,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 23,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.1× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 460 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 36.0445, -120.6135. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 67 km (41 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 72 km (45 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 74 km (46 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
San Benito County, CA 76 km (47 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Fresno County, CA 117 km (73 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 22km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  2. 3.3 1km W of Parkfield, CA
  3. 2.2 17km ENE of New Idria, CA
  4. 2.5 11km N of Avenal, CA
  5. 1.6 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
  6. 2.1 14km N of Coalinga, CA
  7. 2.2 4km WSW of Paso Robles, CA
  8. 1.7 12km SSW of San Lucas, CA
  9. 1.7 14km SSW of Avenal, CA
  10. 1.9 14km SSW of Avenal, CA
  11. 1.9 24km NE of King City, CA
  12. 1.8 24km NW of Parkfield, CA
  13. 1.5 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
  14. 1.8 10km WNW of New Idria, CA
  15. 1.6 23km ENE of San Ardo, 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 2019-12-17 — it released about 180 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.