Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7md
Earthquake near Lexington Hills, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Lexington Hills in the 24 hours to 12:05 am PST (08:05 UTC). The last one was M 1.8, 9 km (6 mi) ESE, at 10:49 pm PDT on 29 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Lexington Hills
This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 7 km (5 mi) west-northwest of Lexington Hills, CA, at 4:51 pm PST on 31 January 2018 (00:51 UTC), 12 km deep.
USGS: 7km WNW of Lexington Hills, CA
24 km (15 mi) WSW of San Jose, CA · 15 km (9 mi) S of Cupertino, CA
- When
- 4:51 pm PST on 31 January 2018 ()
- Where
- 7 km (5 mi) west-northwest of Lexington Hills, CA · earthquakes near Lexington Hills
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (md)
- Depth
- 12 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Cruz County, 20 km S
- Nearest mapped fault
- Butano fault, under 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3198 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Lexington Hills, CA
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 5 km (3 mi) from the epicentre. In Lexington Hills, 7 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Monte Sereno, Los Gatos, Lompico, Saratoga, Boulder Creek, Brookdale.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 12 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 870,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 78× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.1 on 2017-10-10 — about 3,300 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 27 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 23 km SE of this epicentre
- 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 38 km ESE of this epicentre
- 6.3 22 km S of Davenport, California · 44 km SSW of this epicentre
- 6.3 16 km SW of Davenport, California · 39 km SW of this epicentre
- 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 26 km ENE of this epicentre
Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.
Where
Epicentre 37.1858, -122.0507. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 20 km (12 mi) | S | earthquakes near Santa Cruz County |
| Santa Clara County, CA | 32 km (20 mi) | E | earthquakes near Santa Clara County |
| San Mateo County, CA | 38 km (24 mi) | NW | earthquakes near San Mateo County |
| Alameda County, CA | 53 km (33 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Alameda County |
| Contra Costa County, CA | 82 km (51 mi) | N | earthquakes near Contra Costa County |
| Stanislaus County, CA | 102 km (63 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Stanislaus County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
37 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.8 5km NNW of Aromas, CA
- 1.8 5km SSW of Gilroy, CA
- 1.9 3km WSW of Portola Valley, CA
- 1.6 8km E of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.8 5km SSE of Portola Valley, CA
- 1.9 9km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
- 2.3 4km NE of Interlaken, CA
- 2.3 14km N of Morgan Hill, CA
- 1.7 9km NE of Milpitas, CA
- 1.5 5km S of Portola Valley, CA
- 1.5 7km NE of Alum Rock, CA
- 3.8 9km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.8 8km WSW of Gilroy, CA
- 1.8 13km N of Morgan Hill, CA
- 1.8 15km N of Morgan Hill, 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.
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.