QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

12 km NNE of Hollister, California

· 6.4 km deep · released about 9.3 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 41 kmSan Benito County 46 kmSanta Cruz County 58 kmMerced County 62 kmStanislaus County 74 kmMonterey County 80 kmAlameda County 90 kmSan Mateo County 103 kmSan Joaquin County 108 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
6.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 41 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3515 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 9.3 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.3 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 36.9632, -121.3597. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 41 km (25 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Benito County, CA 46 km (29 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 58 km (36 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Merced County, CA 62 km (39 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 74 km (46 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Monterey County, CA 80 km (50 mi) N of here earthquakes near Monterey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 22 km NE of Soledad, California
  2. 1.9 14 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California
  3. 2.3 3 km SSW of Ridgemark, California
  4. 2.3 4 km ESE of Aromas, California
  5. 1.7 14 km E of Seven Trees, California
  6. 1.9 14 km E of Seven Trees, California
  7. 2.4 32 km SW of South Dos Palos, California
  8. 1.7 27 km ESE of Tres Pinos, California
  9. 2.3 22 km NNE of Soledad, California
  10. 1.5 5 km SSE of San Juan Bautista, California
  11. 2.1 21 km NE of Soledad, California
  12. 2.6 23 km NE of Tres Pinos, California
  13. 1.7 10 km SSW of Ridgemark, California
  14. 1.9 7 km WSW of Gilroy, California
  15. 2.2 14 km N of Morgan Hill, California

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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.2 on 2016-07-19 — it released about 6,900 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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