QuakeIndex

quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

8 km E of Chualar, CA

· -0.4 km deep · released about 6.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 31 kmMonterey County 39 kmSanta Cruz County 70 kmSanta Clara County 75 kmMerced County 93 kmStanislaus County 115 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
-0.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 31 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 132 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.4 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 2,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.4 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 36.5810, -121.4290. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 31 km (19 mi) W of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 39 km (24 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Santa Cruz County, CA 70 km (44 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 75 km (47 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Merced County, CA 93 km (58 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 115 km (72 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 10 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  2. 1.6 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  3. 1.5 7 km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  4. 1.6 12 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  5. 1.8 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  6. 2.0 13 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  7. 1.6 5 km ESE of Interlaken, CA
  8. 1.9 15 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 1.8 19 km ENE of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 1.5 9 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 1.8 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  12. 1.6 9 km NNE of Gonzales, CA
  13. 1.5 12 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
  14. 2.1 3 km SW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  15. 2.6 5 km SW of Ridgemark, 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 55,000 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.