QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

21 km ENE of San Ardo, CA

· 5.3 km deep · released about 6.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 54 kmSan Benito County 61 kmKings County 82 kmSan Luis Obispo County 88 kmMerced County 117 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
5.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 54 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 706 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 36.1432, -120.7270. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 54 km (33 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 61 km (38 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Kings County, CA 82 km (51 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 88 km (54 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Merced County, CA 117 km (73 mi) S of here earthquakes near Merced County
Fresno County, CA 118 km (73 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

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

  1. 1.8 9 km WNW of New Idria, CA
  2. 1.9 15 km NE of New Idria, CA
  3. 2.0 16 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  4. 2.1 17 km NW of Huron, CA
  5. 2.3 7 km SSE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 2.6 12 km ESE of Coalinga, CA
  7. 1.7 22 km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  8. 1.6 9 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 2.1 18 km of New Idria, CA
  10. 1.5 9 km NW of Avenal, CA
  11. 1.8 9 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 1.8 10 km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 2.7 22 km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  14. 1.7 23 km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  15. 1.9 24 km NE of King City, 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 2023-08-10 — 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.