QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

5 km W of Baywood-Los Osos, CA

· 5.5 km deep · released about 490 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 41 kmMonterey County 110 kmSanta Barbara County 116 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
5.5 km below the surface
Felt
335 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 41 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 389 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 335 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 490 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 31,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.9× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 490 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 35.3088, -120.8905. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 41 km (25 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Monterey County, CA 110 km (69 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Santa Barbara County, CA 116 km (72 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Kings County, CA 129 km (80 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

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

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