QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

20 km SE of Pinnacles, CA

· 10 km deep · released about 8.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 24 kmMonterey County 35 kmMerced County 90 kmSanta Clara County 110 kmKings County 111 kmSanta Cruz County 113 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
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 24 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1080 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 8.4 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 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× 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 8.4 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 36.4112, -120.9812. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 24 km (15 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 35 km (22 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 90 km (56 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 110 km (68 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Kings County, CA 111 km (69 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Santa Cruz County, CA 113 km (70 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County

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. 1.7 13 km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  2. 2.5 24 km N of New Idria, CA
  3. 1.9 12 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 2.1 10 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 2.2 2 km NNE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 2.2 2 km N of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 1.8 9 km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  8. 1.6 16 km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  9. 1.5 22 km NE of King City, CA
  10. 2.1 15 km N of New Idria, CA
  11. 1.8 14 km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  12. 1.6 13 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 2.0 13 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 2.0 13 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 2.7 13 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 42,000 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.