QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

5km SW of Gilroy, CA

· 4.3 km deep · released about 220 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 29 kmSanta Cruz County 36 kmSan Benito County 61 kmAlameda County 80 kmMerced County 82 kmSan Mateo County 84 kmStanislaus County 85 kmMonterey County 85 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 2.6 (md)
Depth
4.3 km below the surface
Felt
90 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 2900 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 90 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 220 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 68,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 48,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 220 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 36.9692, -121.6078. 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 36 km (22 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 61 km (38 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Alameda County, CA 80 km (50 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Merced County, CA 82 km (51 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
San Mateo County, CA 84 km (52 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  2. 1.8 14km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
  3. 2.8 4km ESE of Aromas, CA
  4. 2.5 4km ESE of Aromas, CA
  5. 1.8 10km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  6. 1.7 5km SSW of Gilroy, CA
  7. 1.6 3km E of Aromas, CA
  8. 1.7 10km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  9. 1.7 21km S of Santa Cruz, CA
  10. 1.9 4km E of Interlaken, CA
  11. 2.5 8km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  12. 1.7 8km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  13. 1.8 8km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  14. 1.8 8km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  15. 2.0 9km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA

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 4.6 on 2017-11-13 — it released about 1,000 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.