The December 28, 1939 earthquake
M5.2near Lake Nacimiento, CA
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake 3.7 miles deep, centred in Monterey County. The 367th strongest in California’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 5.8 on June 7, 1934.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.2
- local magnitude (ml)
- Depth
- 3.7 mi
- 6.0 km below the surface
- Local time
- Thursday, December 28, 1939
- 04:15 PST; 12:15 UTC
- In California’s record
- 367th
- strongest of 97,065 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event ci3365181 (“26km NNW of Lake Nacimiento, CA”). The USGS event page carries the ShakeMap, felt reports and the official summary.
Counties and cities within 50 miles
Distance from the epicentre to each county boundary (zero when inside) and to each city centre.
Counties
- Monterey CountyCA · inside
- San Benito CountyCA · 21.0 mi
- Fresno CountyCA · 21.0 mi
- San Luis Obispo CountyCA · 23.6 mi
- Kings CountyCA · 37.0 mi
- Kern CountyCA · 45.1 mi
Cities, largest first
- Paso RoblesCA · 28.8 mi
- AtascaderoCA · 36.1 mi
- SoledadCA · 38.4 mi
- GreenfieldCA · 29.7 mi
- CoalingaCA · 37.5 mi
- King CityCA · 20.2 mi
- AvenalCA · 48.2 mi
- Morro BayCA · 41.0 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
2,456 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.
Earlier earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more within 50 miles, strongest first
- March 10, 1922M6.5
- March 2, 1901M6.4
- May 25, 1905M6.1
- June 7, 1934M5.8
- July 25, 1926M5.8
- December 6, 1906M5.7
- June 7, 1934M5.1
- August 17, 1922M5.0
- March 16, 1922M5.0
- February 26, 1932M5.0
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.