QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

8km NNE of San Simeon, CA

· 6.3 km deep · released about 780 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 62 kmSan Luis Obispo County 72 kmSan Benito County 101 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
6.3 km below the surface
Felt
8 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Monterey County, 62 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1611 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 8 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 780 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 19,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 14,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 780 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 35.7027, -121.1485. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 62 km (38 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 72 km (45 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
San Benito County, CA 101 km (63 mi) S of here earthquakes near San Benito County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 9km W of Templeton, CA
  2. 2.0 10km NNE of San Simeon, CA
  3. 2.2 18km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  4. 2.0 11km NNE of Cambria, CA
  5. 2.0 10km N of San Simeon, CA
  6. 2.5 14km NE of San Simeon, CA
  7. 1.9 19km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
  8. 1.7 8km NE of San Simeon, CA
  9. 1.6 27km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  10. 1.6 5km E of San Ardo, CA
  11. 1.8 25km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
  12. 2.2 6km NE of San Simeon, CA
  13. 1.7 9km WNW of Templeton, CA
  14. 1.5 8km ENE of San Simeon, CA
  15. 1.9 11km N of Cayucos, 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 2021-10-25 — it released about 370 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.