QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

14 km S of Carmel By The Sea, CA

· 7.6 km deep · released about 41 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 60 kmSanta Cruz County 65 kmSan Benito County 79 kmSanta Clara County 90 kmSan Mateo County 116 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
7.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 60 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 94 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 41 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 370,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 260,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 23× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 41 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 36.4337, -121.9423. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 60 km (37 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Santa Cruz County, CA 65 km (40 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 79 km (49 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Clara County, CA 90 km (56 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Mateo County, CA 116 km (72 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Merced County, CA 138 km (86 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Merced County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 11 km SSW of La Selva Beach, CA
  2. 1.5 6 km ENE of Chualar, CA
  3. 1.7 8 km ESE of Prunedale, CA
  4. 1.6 16 km N of Lopez Point, CA
  5. 2.1 13 km S of Carmel By The Sea, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.