QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 1.3md

Earthquake near Salinas, CA

Yes. A magnitude 1.3 earthquake was recorded 32 km (20 mi) east of Salinas, CA, at 8:58 pm PST on 10 November 2026 (04:58 UTC), 5.8 km deep. No felt reports to USGS yet. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.

USGS: 15 km S of Tres Pinos, CA

85 km (53 mi) SSE of San Jose, CA · 30 km (19 mi) E of Salinas, CA

8:58 pm PST, Nov 10, 2026 · · 5.8 km deep · released about 3.1 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 19 kmMonterey County 46 kmSanta Clara County 72 kmSanta Cruz County 75 kmMerced County 79 kmStanislaus County 104 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
8:58 pm PST on 10 November 2026 ()
Where
32 km (20 mi) east of Salinas, CA · earthquakes near Salinas
Magnitude
M 1.3 (md)
Depth
5.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 19 km ESE
Nearest mapped fault
Calaveras fault, 5 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 10 hours ago

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

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Ridgemark, Gonzales, Chualar, Hollister, Soledad.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.1 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 310× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.3 about 3.1 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.7 on 2019-10-15 — about 110,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 21 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 11 km NE of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 49 km NW of this epicentre
  3. 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 4 km ENE of this epicentre
  4. 5.5 7 km SW of Hollister, California · 21 km NW of this epicentre
  5. 5.5 12 km S of Tres Pinos, California · 3 km N of this epicentre

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 36.6535, -121.2953. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
San Benito County, CA 19 km (12 mi) ESE earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 46 km (29 mi) S earthquakes near Monterey County
Santa Clara County, CA 72 km (45 mi) NNW earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 75 km (47 mi) WNW earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Merced County, CA 79 km (49 mi) NE earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 104 km (65 mi) NNE earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 4 km SSW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  2. 2.1 26 km SW of Gustine, 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.