QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

23km NW of Parkfield, CA

· 3.1 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 67 kmKings County 71 kmSan Luis Obispo County 74 kmSan Benito County 76 kmFresno County 117 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
3.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 67 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1269 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 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 36.0435, -120.6098. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 67 km (42 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 71 km (44 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 74 km (46 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
San Benito County, CA 76 km (47 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

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

  1. 1.9 22 km SW of New Idria, CA
  2. 1.9 23 km NNE of San Ardo, CA
  3. 1.7 22 km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  4. 1.8 24 km NNE of San Ardo, CA
  5. 1.6 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
  6. 1.8 8km SW of Huron, CA
  7. 1.6 23km WSW of New Idria, CA
  8. 2.4 11km SSE of Parkfield, CA
  9. 1.7 3km ESE of San Ardo, CA
  10. 1.7 14km SSW of Cantua Creek, CA
  11. 2.5 24km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  12. 2.3 24km NE of King City, CA
  13. 2.1 23km NNE of San Lucas, CA
  14. 1.6 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  15. 1.8 6km N of Avenal, 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 15,000 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.