Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6md
5km E of San Ardo, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (md)
- Depth
- 9.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Monterey County, 48 km WNW
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1542 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 8.7 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,700,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.7 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 36.0213, -120.8503. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monterey County, CA | 48 km (30 mi) | ESE of here | earthquakes near Monterey County |
| San Benito County, CA | 69 km (43 mi) | SSE of here | earthquakes near San Benito County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 79 km (49 mi) | NNW of here | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Kings County, CA | 93 km (58 mi) | W of here | earthquakes near Kings County |
| Fresno County, CA | 135 km (84 mi) | SW of here | earthquakes near Fresno County |
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 151 km (94 mi) | SE 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
48 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.2 5km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 2.1 14km W of New Idria, CA
- 1.8 16km NW of Coalinga, CA
- 2.3 21km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 2.0 22km NE of San Lucas, CA
- 1.6 23km WSW of New Idria, 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
- 1.8 21km W of New Idria, CA
- 1.6 18km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.6 19km NW of San Simeon, 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 33,000 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.