QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

6 km E of Coalinga, CA

· 13 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 44 kmSan Luis Obispo County 86 kmSan Benito County 87 kmFresno County 89 kmMonterey County 92 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
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kings County, 44 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 495 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 36.1495, -120.2970. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 44 km (27 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 86 km (53 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
San Benito County, CA 87 km (54 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Fresno County, CA 89 km (55 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Monterey County, CA 92 km (57 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 122 km (76 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

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

  1. 2.7 3 km ENE of Cholame, CA
  2. 2.6 9 km NW of Avenal, CA
  3. 2.0 10 km NW of Avenal, CA
  4. 1.5 12 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  5. 1.6 4 km SW of Kettleman City, CA
  6. 1.7 16 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  7. 1.6 21 km NW of Parkfield, CA
  8. 1.5 9 km NW of Avenal, CA
  9. 2.6 12 km NE of Coalinga, CA
  10. 1.8 11 km NE of Coalinga, CA
  11. 1.5 3 km NNE of Cholame, CA
  12. 2.0 21 km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  13. 1.5 7 km E of Avenal, CA
  14. 1.8 21 km SW of Cantua Creek, CA
  15. 1.5 12 km S of Cantua Creek, 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 7,700 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.