Earthquake near Salinas, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Salinas, 25 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Ridgemark, Hollister, Chualar, San Juan Bautista, Gonzales, Boronda.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.8 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.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,200,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.8 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.7 on 2019-10-15 — about 51,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 22 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 14 km ENE of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
2. 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 39 km NW of this epicentre Mar 11, 1910
3. 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 12 km ESE of this epicentre Aug 6, 1916
4. 5.8 The 1979 Coyote Lake, California Earthquake · 46 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 6, 1979
5. 5.5 7 km SW of Hollister, California · 12 km NNW of this epicentre Jun 24, 1939

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 36.7062, -121.3813. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.6 6km SSW of Gilroy, CA 13:47 UTC
2. 1.8 2km NE of Pinnacles, CA 21:31 UTC
3. 2.9 0km NNW of Pinnacles, CA 21:20 UTC
4. 2.4 4km NNW of Pinnacles, CA 23:32 UTC
5. 2.3 2km ENE of Pinnacles, CA 14:22 UTC
6. 2.3 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA 19:23 UTC
7. 1.6 13km ESE of Gilroy, CA 00:08 UTC
8. 1.9 9km NW of Pinnacles, CA 02:23 UTC
9. 1.8 1km WSW of Tres Pinos, CA 09:50 UTC
10. 2.0 7km S of San Juan Bautista, CA 19:44 UTC
11. 2.0 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA 18:21 UTC
12. 1.7 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA 18:09 UTC
13. 2.6 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA 18:07 UTC
14. 1.7 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA 07:36 UTC
15. 2.0 23km NW of New Idria, CA 16:31 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 22:51 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

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.