QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2ml

25 km E of San Ardo, CA

· 5.9 km deep · released about 1.1 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 63 kmSan Benito County 72 kmKings County 74 kmSan Luis Obispo County 78 kmFresno County 117 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 3.2 (ml)
Depth
5.9 km below the surface
Felt
7 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Monterey County, 63 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 753 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 7 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 150,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 6,900× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1.1 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.3× 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 36.0750, -120.6400. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 63 km (39 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 72 km (45 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Kings County, CA 74 km (46 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 78 km (49 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 117 km (72 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 3 km SE of San Ardo, CA
  2. 1.9 5 km WSW of New Idria, CA
  3. 2.0 9 km SSW of San Ardo, CA
  4. 2.0 17 km NNW of Parkfield, CA
  5. 1.9 9 km E of Coalinga, CA
  6. 1.6 10 km E of Coalinga, CA
  7. 1.9 17 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  8. 2.6 16 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  9. 1.7 23 km WSW of New Idria, CA
  10. 2.9 11 km SSE of Parkfield, CA
  11. 1.5 6 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  12. 2.3 12 km SSW of Cantua Creek, CA
  13. 3.3 8 km NNW of Avenal, CA
  14. 1.8 23 km E of San Ardo, CA
  15. 2.0 13 km NNE of Coalinga, 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 38 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.