QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

8 km E of Gilroy, California

· 6.6 km deep · released about 550 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 30 kmSanta Cruz County 47 kmSan Benito County 57 kmMerced County 69 kmStanislaus County 74 kmAlameda County 80 kmMonterey County 88 kmSan Mateo County 91 kmSan Joaquin 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
Magnitude
M 2.8 (md)
Depth
6.6 km below the surface
Felt
24 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 30 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3328 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 24 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 550 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 28,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 19,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.7× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 550 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 37.0173, -121.4740. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 30 km (18 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 47 km (29 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 57 km (35 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Merced County, CA 69 km (43 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 74 km (46 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Alameda County, CA 80 km (50 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 5 km ENE of Aromas, California
  2. 2.3 5 km SW of Gilroy, California
  3. 1.7 18 km SW of Gustine, California
  4. 1.7 5 km NNE of Tres Pinos, California
  5. 1.5 19 km SW of Gustine, California
  6. 1.6 Northern California
  7. 1.6 19 km SW of Gustine, California
  8. 2.4 5 km ESE of Interlaken, California
  9. 1.5 6 km ESE of Prunedale, California
  10. 2.3 11 km S of Tres Pinos, California
  11. 1.9 Northern California
  12. 1.7 5 km SSW of Tres Pinos, California
  13. 2.0 2 km S of San Juan Bautista, California
  14. 1.8 3 km S of San Juan Bautista, California
  15. 2.3 6 km E of East Foothills, 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 120 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.