Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.4mw
12km NW of Parkfield, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.4 (mw)
- Depth
- 11 km below the surface
- Felt
- 23 reports · strongest reported intensity III
- Measured shaking
- intensity III (ShakeMap)
- Nearest
- Kings County, 65 km E
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1491 days ago
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 23 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 1.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 110,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,700× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,300× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.6 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.3× 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 35.9723, -120.5267. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kings County, CA | 65 km (40 mi) | W of here | earthquakes near Kings County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 65 km (41 mi) | N of here | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Monterey County, CA | 77 km (48 mi) | ESE of here | earthquakes near Monterey County |
| San Benito County, CA | 87 km (54 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
51 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.2 5km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.5 12km SE of Coalinga, CA
- 1.8 16km NW of Coalinga, CA
- 2.3 21km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 2.0 22km NE of San Lucas, CA
- 1.8 21km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.7 23km ENE of San Lucas, CA
- 1.7 23km WSW of New Idria, CA
- 2.6 12km NE of Bradley, CA
- 1.6 6km N of Parkfield, CA
- 1.8 11km NE of Bradley, CA
- 1.6 3km WSW of Avenal, CA
- 1.6 18km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.9 22km ENE of San Lucas, CA
- 2.0 11km NW of Parkfield, 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 26 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.