QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8md

12 km SE of Pinnacles, CA

· 6.6 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 18 kmMonterey County 33 kmMerced County 88 kmSanta Clara County 103 kmSanta Cruz County 105 kmKings 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 1.8 (md)
Depth
6.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 18 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 170 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 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 65× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 36.4478, -121.0597. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 18 km (11 mi) S of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 33 km (20 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 88 km (55 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Santa Clara County, CA 103 km (64 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 105 km (65 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Kings County, CA 119 km (74 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kings County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 12 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  2. 2.5 8 km N of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 2.5 22 km SSW of King City, CA
  4. 1.6 7 km N of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 1.9 15 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 1.6 22 km NNE of San Lucas, CA
  7. 1.5 7 km NNE of Greenfield, CA
  8. 1.6 3 km S of Ridgemark, CA
  9. 2.0 9 km NE of Gonzales, CA
  10. 1.9 1 km NNE of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.7 23 km WSW of New Idria, CA
  12. 1.5 2 km ENE of Ridgemark, CA
  13. 3.6 2 km ENE of Ridgemark, CA
  14. 1.6 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  15. 2.3 7 km NW of Pinnacles, 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 2019-10-15 — it released about 24,000 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.