QuakeIndex

quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

8km ESE of Prunedale, CA

· -0.3 km deep · released about 9.3 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 47 kmSanta Cruz County 47 kmSanta Clara County 53 kmMonterey County 62 kmMerced County 91 kmSan Mateo County 101 kmAlameda County 104 kmStanislaus County 104 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
-0.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 47 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1349 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

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 36.7502, -121.5873. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 47 km (29 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 47 km (29 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 53 km (33 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Monterey County, CA 62 km (38 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 91 km (57 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
San Mateo County, CA 101 km (63 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo 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. 1.8 8km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  2. 2.2 14km WNW of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 2.3 2km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 1.6 5km NNW of Aromas, CA
  5. 2.6 3km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  6. 1.5 6km NNW of Aromas, CA
  7. 2.1 4km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 1.8 5km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  9. 1.9 5km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  10. 1.5 13km NE of Hollister, CA
  11. 1.7 16km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 2.5 9km ENE of San Martin, CA
  13. 1.8 9km ENE of San Martin, CA
  14. 1.7 9km ENE of San Martin, CA
  15. 2.0 9km ENE of San Martin, 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.