QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1ml

8 km NW of Avila Beach, CA

· 6.2 km deep · released about 1,200 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 35 kmSanta Barbara County 103 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 3.1 (ml)
Depth
6.2 km below the surface
Felt
145 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 35 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 699 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 145 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,200 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 280,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 12,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 8,800× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,200 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.3× more

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 35.2355, -120.7840. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 35 km (22 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Santa Barbara County, CA 103 km (64 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Monterey County, CA 122 km (76 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 128 km (79 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Kings County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.5 7 km SW of Atascadero, CA
  2. 1.5 7 km W of Atascadero, CA
  3. 1.9 15 km N of Cayucos, CA
  4. 2.4 10 km ENE of Cayucos, CA
  5. 1.7 16 km E of Cambria, CA
  6. 1.6 6 km ESE of Atascadero, CA
  7. 1.5 3 km NW of San Luis Obispo, CA
  8. 1.8 27 km W of Guadalupe, CA
  9. 1.9 8 km WNW of Atascadero, CA
  10. 3.0 7 km WSW of Atascadero, CA
  11. 2.4 7 km WSW of Atascadero, CA
  12. 2.1 14 km ESE of Paso Robles, CA
  13. 2.3 26 km NE of Nipomo, CA
  14. 1.8 12 km W of Templeton, CA
  15. 1.8 9 km WSW of Atascadero, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.