QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

11 km SW of Soledad, CA

· 7.4 km deep · released about 8.7 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 15 kmSan Benito County 41 kmSanta Cruz County 91 kmSanta Clara County 100 kmMerced County 112 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
7.4 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Monterey County, 15 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1139 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
  4. 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 36.3550, -121.4092. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 15 km (9 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 41 km (25 mi) SW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 91 km (56 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 100 km (62 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Merced County, CA 112 km (69 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 138 km (86 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 7 km ESE of Prunedale, CA
  2. 2.6 7 km SW of Tres Pinos, CA
  3. 1.8 13 km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  4. 2.0 6 km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 2.2 6 km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 1.6 7 km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 1.7 19 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 2.0 19 km WNW of New Idria, CA
  9. 2.5 19 km WNW of New Idria, CA
  10. 3.0 19 km WNW of New Idria, CA
  11. 1.6 8 km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  12. 1.9 23 km WSW of New Idria, CA
  13. 1.8 10 km SW of Soledad, CA
  14. 2.3 9 km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 1.8 12 km SE of Pinnacles, 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 40,000 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.