QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

20 km S of Lopez Point, CA

· 5.1 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 46 kmSan Benito County 92 kmSan Luis Obispo County 107 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
5.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 46 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 526 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 35.8538, -121.4888. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 46 km (28 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 92 km (57 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 107 km (67 mi) WNW 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

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

  1. 1.7 14 km WSW of Lake Nacimiento, CA
  2. 2.3 14 km W of Lake Nacimiento, CA
  3. 1.9 25 km NW of San Simeon, CA
  4. 2.1 14 km W of Lake Nacimiento, CA
  5. 1.5 25 km SSW of San Simeon, CA
  6. 2.0 14 km WSW of Lake Nacimiento, CA
  7. 1.8 12 km WSW of San Ardo, CA
  8. 1.7 4 km NNE of Lopez Point, CA
  9. 1.6 29 km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
  10. 1.9 26 km NW of San Simeon, CA
  11. 2.1 13 km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  12. 1.6 11 km NNW of Lopez Point, CA
  13. 2.0 23 km NNW of San Simeon, CA
  14. 1.8 12 km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
  15. 1.7 11 km NE of San Simeon, 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 48,000 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.