Small earthquake recorded southwest of Atascadero Monday

ATASCADERO, Calif. – The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 2.9 earthquake southwest of Atascadero Monday afternoon.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake was about seven kilometers southwest of Atascadero with an estimated depth of 5.4 kilometers and was recorded at 4:30 p.m. local time.

The image below, courtesy of the USGS, shows the location of Monday's earthquake as the red circle.

The USGS image below shows the location of the small earthquake, once again as the red circle, with fault lines overlayed as the red lines. The major fault in the area, the San Andreas Fault, is the thick red line to the east of Monday's epicenter.

How often are earthquakes recorded in the area?

The USGS shared the image below of recent earthquakes in the general area. The red circles are earthquakes in the hour since Monday's earthquake, the orange circles are in the last day, the yellow circles are in the last week, and the white circles and cubes are in the last month.

Notably, earthquakes are clustered along the San Andreas Fault with the size of the shape corresponding to the magnitude of the event.

The cubes shown are for non-earthquake incidents.

For the latest on earthquakes recorded around the globe and for more cool infographics about seismological activity, visit here.