QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

22 km ENE of San Ardo, CA

· 4.1 km deep · released about 6.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 59 kmSan Benito County 68 kmKings County 78 kmSan Luis Obispo County 82 kmFresno County 118 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
4.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 59 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 843 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 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.

Where

Epicentre 36.0983, -120.6803. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 59 km (37 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 68 km (42 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Kings County, CA 78 km (48 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 82 km (51 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 118 km (73 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Santa Cruz County, CA 156 km (97 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

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

  1. 1.8 14 km NE of Coalinga, CA
  2. 1.5 23 km NE of San Ardo, CA
  3. 1.7 7 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  4. 1.8 21 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  5. 1.6 13 km WSW of Parkfield, CA
  6. 1.7 20 km NNW of Parkfield, CA
  7. 2.2 11 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  8. 1.6 24 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 1.7 11 km SSW of San Lucas, CA
  10. 2.0 12 km NE of San Miguel, CA
  11. 1.6 13 km NE of Coalinga, CA
  12. 2.1 18 km SSW of New Idria, CA
  13. 2.1 11 km NE of Coalinga, CA
  14. 1.7 9 km WNW of New Idria, CA
  15. 2.1 12 km NW of Parkfield, 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 4.3 on 2019-12-17 — it released about 12,000 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.