QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

2km SSE of Day Valley, CA

· 16 km deep · released about 270 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 14 kmSanta Clara County 27 kmSan Mateo County 64 kmAlameda County 70 kmSan Benito County 82 kmStanislaus County 96 kmMonterey County 99 kmContra Costa County 101 kmMerced County 102 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
16 km below the surface
Felt
220 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 14 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2746 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 220 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 270 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 57,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 40,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 270 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 37.0187, -121.8483. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 14 km (9 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 27 km (17 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Mateo County, CA 64 km (40 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Alameda County, CA 70 km (44 mi) S of here earthquakes near Alameda County
San Benito County, CA 82 km (51 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Stanislaus County, CA 96 km (60 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 12km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
  2. 2.3 12km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
  3. 1.9 3km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  4. 2.5 8km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  5. 2.9 12km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
  6. 1.9 7km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  7. 1.5 3km S of Loyola, CA
  8. 2.3 8km E of Alum Rock, CA
  9. 2.0 5km WSW of Ridgemark, CA
  10. 2.5 12km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
  11. 1.5 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
  12. 2.4 2km SW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  13. 1.8 11km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  14. 1.8 8km SSE of Portola Valley, CA
  15. 2.1 3km SW of Monte Sereno, 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 150 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.