QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

30km NE of Pinnacles, CA

· 12 km deep · released about 9.3 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 21 kmMerced County 57 kmMonterey County 64 kmSanta Clara County 94 kmStanislaus County 97 kmSanta Cruz County 107 kmFresno County 109 kmMadera County 115 kmKings 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 21 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1690 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 9.3 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 3.0 100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.3 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 36.6918, -120.8723. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 21 km (13 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Merced County, CA 57 km (36 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Monterey County, CA 64 km (40 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Santa Clara County, CA 94 km (58 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Stanislaus County, CA 97 km (61 mi) S of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Santa Cruz County, CA 107 km (67 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 20km E of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 1.7 22km WNW of New Idria, CA
  3. 3.3 22km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 2.2 8km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 1.7 7km E of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 2.3 10km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 1.5 6km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 1.9 6km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 2.4 6km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  10. 2.6 6km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 3.1 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 2.1 6km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 1.7 6km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 4.1 7km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 3.2 8km 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 38,000 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.