QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

4 km NNW of Los Banos, CA

· 5.5 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Merced County 18 kmStanislaus County 54 kmSan Benito County 56 kmSanta Clara County 74 kmSan Joaquin County 100 kmMadera County 100 kmMariposa County 101 kmSanta Cruz County 101 kmMonterey County 102 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
5.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Merced County, 18 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 589 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 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 37.0890, -120.8735. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Merced County, CA 18 km (11 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 54 km (33 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
San Benito County, CA 56 km (35 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Clara County, CA 74 km (46 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Joaquin County, CA 100 km (62 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Joaquin County
Madera County, CA 100 km (62 mi) W of here earthquakes near Madera County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 18 km SE of Tres Pinos, CA
  2. 1.8 29 km SSW of Los Banos, CA
  3. 1.7 30 km SSW of Los Banos, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.