QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.4md

7 km WSW of Gilroy, California

· 5.7 km deep · released about 130 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 27 kmSanta Cruz County 32 kmSan Benito County 65 kmAlameda County 77 kmSan Mateo County 80 kmMerced County 85 kmStanislaus County 86 kmMonterey County 88 kmContra Costa 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 2.4 (md)
Depth
5.7 km below the surface
Felt
21 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 27 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3230 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 21 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 130 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 110,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 80,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 7.2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 130 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 36.9835, -121.6450. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 27 km (17 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 32 km (20 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 65 km (40 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Alameda County, CA 77 km (48 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
San Mateo County, CA 80 km (50 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Merced County, CA 85 km (53 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

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

  1. 3.3 13km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  2. 1.7 7km E of Alum Rock, CA
  3. 1.6 6km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  4. 1.7 4 km E of Aromas, California
  5. 1.5 11 km ESE of East Foothills, California
  6. 1.9 9 km NE of Gilroy, California
  7. 2.2 11 km S of Tres Pinos, California
  8. 1.7 15 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California
  9. 2.7 15 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California
  10. 1.6 7 km WSW of Gilroy, California
  11. 1.8 8 km SSW of Tres Pinos, California
  12. 1.9 14 km E of Seven Trees, California
  13. 1.5 10 km SW of Tres Pinos, California
  14. 2.3 15 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California
  15. 1.7 5 km SW 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 480 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.