QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

12 km SSW of San Lucas, CA

· 12 km deep · released about 19 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 34 kmSan Benito County 65 kmSan Luis Obispo County 89 kmKings County 110 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 34 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 558 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 19 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 790,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 560,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 50× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 19 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 36.0272, -121.0427. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 34 km (21 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 65 km (40 mi) S of here earthquakes near San Benito County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 89 km (55 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kings County, CA 110 km (69 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
Santa Cruz County, CA 139 km (87 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 21 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 2.3 22 km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  3. 1.8 12 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 2.5 12 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 1.7 15 km ENE of San Simeon, CA
  6. 1.9 18 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  7. 1.7 23 km NNW of Parkfield, CA
  8. 2.0 22 km NE of San Lucas, CA
  9. 2.6 23 km NNW of Parkfield, CA
  10. 1.8 14 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  11. 2.2 14 km SSE of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 2.4 15 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  13. 1.9 20 km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  14. 1.8 20 km SSW of New Idria, CA
  15. 1.9 2 km ESE of Lopez Point, 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 2021-10-25 — it released about 15,000 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.