QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

12 km NE of Coalinga, CA

· 11 km deep · released about 8.7 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 44 kmFresno County 81 kmSan Benito County 85 kmMonterey County 93 kmSan Luis Obispo County 94 kmMerced County 115 kmMadera 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kings County, 44 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 669 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 8.7 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 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.7 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 36.2240, -120.2733. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 44 km (28 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Fresno County, CA 81 km (51 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
San Benito County, CA 85 km (53 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 93 km (58 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 94 km (59 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Merced County, CA 115 km (72 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Merced County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 8 km WSW of Huron, CA
  2. 1.5 8 km WNW of Huron, CA
  3. 3.2 10 km NNW of Avenal, CA
  4. 1.7 5 km NW of Avenal, CA
  5. 1.7 16 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  6. 1.9 22 km NE of San Ardo, CA
  7. 1.9 10 km NNW of Avenal, CA
  8. 1.5 10 km NNW of Avenal, CA
  9. 1.9 24 km NNW of Parkfield, CA
  10. 2.0 7 km WNW of Kettleman City, CA
  11. 2.3 9 km NNW of Cholame, CA
  12. 1.5 17 km NNW of Coalinga, CA
  13. 1.8 10 km NNW of Avenal, CA
  14. 4.3 10 km NNW of Avenal, CA
  15. 1.6 4 km S of Avenal, 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 9,400 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.