QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

7km WNW of Lexington Hills, CA

· 12 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 20 kmSanta Clara County 32 kmSan Mateo County 38 kmAlameda County 53 kmContra Costa County 82 kmStanislaus County 102 kmSan Francisco County 106 kmSan Benito County 107 kmSan Joaquin 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 20 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3153 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 870,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 78× the energy of this one
  4. 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.

Where

Epicentre 37.1858, -122.0507. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 20 km (12 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 32 km (20 mi) W of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Mateo County, CA 38 km (24 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Alameda County, CA 53 km (33 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Contra Costa County, CA 82 km (51 mi) S of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Stanislaus County, CA 102 km (63 mi) WSW of here 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. 1.8 5km NNW of Aromas, CA
  2. 1.8 5km SSW of Gilroy, CA
  3. 1.9 3km WSW of Portola Valley, CA
  4. 1.6 8km E of Alum Rock, CA
  5. 1.8 5km SSE of Portola Valley, CA
  6. 1.9 9km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
  7. 2.3 4km NE of Interlaken, CA
  8. 2.3 14km N of Morgan Hill, CA
  9. 1.7 9km NE of Milpitas, CA
  10. 1.5 5km S of Portola Valley, CA
  11. 1.5 7km NE of Alum Rock, CA
  12. 3.8 9km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
  13. 1.8 8km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  14. 1.8 13km N of Morgan Hill, CA
  15. 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.1 on 2017-10-10 — it released about 3,300 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.