QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

5 km SW of Gilroy, California

· 4.8 km deep · released about 82 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 29 kmSanta Cruz County 35 kmSan Benito County 62 kmAlameda County 80 kmSan Mateo County 83 kmMerced County 83 kmStanislaus County 85 kmMonterey County 86 kmContra Costa County 110 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
4.8 km below the surface
Felt
5 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 29 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1512 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 5 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 82 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 12× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 82 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 36.9710, -121.6168. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 29 km (18 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 35 km (22 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 62 km (38 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Alameda County, CA 80 km (49 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
San Mateo County, CA 83 km (52 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Merced County, CA 83 km (52 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 8 km ENE of San Martin, California
  2. 1.9 Northern California
  3. 2.3 9 km NNE of San Juan Bautista, California
  4. 2.2 8 km N of San Juan Bautista, California
  5. 2.0 15 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California
  6. 2.7 15 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California
  7. 2.4 2 km N of Aromas, California
  8. 2.2 15 km E of Seven Trees, California
  9. 1.7 7 km E of East Foothills, California
  10. 1.7 2 km E of Aromas, California
  11. 2.3 9 km S of Tres Pinos, California
  12. 2.0 10 km S of Tres Pinos, California
  13. 1.7 6 km SW of Gilroy, California
  14. 1.5 16 km SE of Tres Pinos, California
  15. 1.9 7 km WSW of Gilroy, 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 790 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.