QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

6km SW of Gilroy, CA

· 4.0 km deep · released about 420 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 83 kmSan Mateo County 84 kmMonterey County 85 kmStanislaus 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
4.0 km below the surface
Felt
71 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 2866 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 71 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 420 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 36,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 26,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 420 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 36.9682, -121.6097. 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 83 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

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

  1. 1.7 4km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  2. 2.4 15km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  3. 1.7 7km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  4. 2.4 4km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  5. 1.6 14km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  6. 1.5 22km WSW of Los Banos, CA
  7. 2.5 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  8. 1.9 13km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  9. 2.6 2km SSE of Day Valley, CA
  10. 2.0 5km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  11. 1.7 14km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  12. 2.7 5km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  13. 1.7 12km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  14. 1.6 9km NNE of Gonzales, CA
  15. 1.6 12km S 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 540 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.