QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4mw

7km NE of Coalinga, CA

· 10 km deep · released about 2.2 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 46 kmSan Benito County 84 kmFresno County 87 kmSan Luis Obispo County 90 kmMonterey County 90 kmMerced 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 3.4 (mw)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
24 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Kings County, 46 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1737 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 24 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.2 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 78,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 3,500× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,500× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 2.2 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 4.6× 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 36.1858, -120.3092. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 46 km (29 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Benito County, CA 84 km (52 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Fresno County, CA 87 km (54 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 90 km (56 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Monterey County, CA 90 km (56 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 118 km (73 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Merced County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 9km SSE of Huron, CA
  2. 1.9 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  3. 2.0 17km NW of Parkfield, CA
  4. 1.7 24km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  5. 1.6 18km WNW of Coalinga, CA
  6. 2.2 5km NW of Avenal, CA
  7. 1.7 25km E of San Ardo, CA
  8. 2.3 25km E of San Ardo, CA
  9. 1.7 8km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  10. 1.9 3km SW of Huron, CA
  11. 2.8 8km NNW of Cholame, CA
  12. 3.0 7km NNW of Cholame, CA
  13. 1.5 13km SW of Huron, CA
  14. 1.8 6km NNE of Avenal, CA
  15. 2.6 10km NNE of Avenal, 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 19 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.