QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

6km ENE of San Miguel, CA

· 7.2 km deep · released about 18 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 46 kmMonterey County 80 kmKings County 80 kmSan Benito County 102 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
7.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 46 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1355 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 18 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 840,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 53× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 18 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 35.7748, -120.6303. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 46 km (29 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Monterey County, CA 80 km (50 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 80 km (50 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Benito County, CA 102 km (63 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Fresno County, CA 140 km (87 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

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

  1. 1.9 8km NNE of San Simeon, CA
  2. 1.5 4km WNW of Templeton, CA
  3. 1.6 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  4. 2.6 24km NW of Parkfield, CA
  5. 1.9 18km NW of Parkfield, CA
  6. 2.5 12km SW of Lake Nacimiento, CA
  7. 1.5 23km NW of Parkfield, CA
  8. 1.8 10km ESE of Shandon, CA
  9. 1.7 10km WSW of Atascadero, CA
  10. 1.5 8km W of Templeton, CA
  11. 1.8 5km WSW of San Ardo, CA
  12. 1.5 12km NE of San Simeon, CA
  13. 2.1 5km WSW of San Ardo, CA
  14. 1.8 21km NNE of San Ardo, CA
  15. 1.5 10km N of Bradley, 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 4,600 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.