Earthquake near Hollister, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 19 km (12 mi) from the epicentre. In Hollister, 26 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 67 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 230,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 160,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 14× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.2 about 67 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 4.2 on 2016-07-19 — about 970 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 40 km WNW of this epicentre Jul 1, 1911
2. 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 33 km S of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
3. 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 45 km W of this epicentre Mar 11, 1910
4. 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 40 km S of this epicentre Aug 6, 1916
5. 5.8 The 1979 Coyote Lake, California Earthquake · 29 km WNW of this epicentre Aug 6, 1979

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 37.0250, -121.2013. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 20 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California 10:34 UTC
2. 2.1 7 km WSW of Ridgemark, California 00:06 UTC
3. 2.1 7 km SW of Ridgemark, California 00:06 UTC
4. 1.8 2 km WSW of San Juan Bautista, California 20:16 UTC
5. 1.6 23 km NE of Soledad, California 19:47 UTC
6. 1.7 11 km SSW of South Dos Palos, California 04:54 UTC
7. 1.9 15 km SE of Tres Pinos, California 07:13 UTC
8. 1.5 0 km W of Hollister, California 19:58 UTC
9. 1.5 2 km WNW of Ridgemark, California 14:57 UTC
10. 1.6 23 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California 11:05 UTC
11. 2.2 0 km WNW of Hollister, California 02:00 UTC
12. 1.7 27 km NE of Soledad, California 23:17 UTC
13. 1.9 17 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California 02:13 UTC
14. 2.1 21 km NNE of Soledad, California 22:45 UTC
15. 1.6 1 km SW of Ridgemark, California 21:22 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 10:43 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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