QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

15 km W of New Idria, CA

· 17 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 32 kmMonterey County 46 kmMerced County 89 kmKings County 99 kmFresno County 113 kmSan Luis Obispo County 118 kmSanta Clara County 119 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
17 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 32 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 704 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 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 36.3972, -120.8412. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 32 km (20 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 46 km (29 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 89 km (55 mi) S of here earthquakes near Merced County
Kings County, CA 99 km (61 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Fresno County, CA 113 km (70 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 118 km (73 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo 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. 3.4 9 km NNW of Cantua Creek, CA
  2. 1.7 2 km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 2.6 10 km of Cantua Creek, CA
  4. 1.6 5 km ENE of New Idria, CA
  5. 2.3 9 km NNW of Cantua Creek, CA
  6. 2.0 9 km N of Cantua Creek, CA
  7. 2.3 4 km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 1.8 3 km ENE of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 1.8 9 km WNW of New Idria, CA
  10. 1.6 9 km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.1 17 km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  12. 1.9 15 km NE of New Idria, CA
  13. 2.0 5 km S of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 2.5 4 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 2.9 16 km S of Tres Pinos, 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 4.7 on 2019-10-15 — it released about 59,000 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.