Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.9md
12km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 2.9 (md)
- Depth
- 5.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- 96 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
- Nearest
- Santa Clara County, 6 km WSW
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2739 days ago
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 96 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 650 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 23,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.5× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.9 about 650 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 37.2360, -121.6195. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara County, CA | 6 km (4 mi) | ENE of here | earthquakes near Santa Clara County |
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 42 km (26 mi) | NE of here | earthquakes near Santa Cruz County |
| Alameda County, CA | 53 km (33 mi) | SSE of here | earthquakes near Alameda County |
| Stanislaus County, CA | 65 km (41 mi) | WSW of here | earthquakes near Stanislaus County |
| San Mateo County, CA | 69 km (43 mi) | ESE of here | earthquakes near San Mateo County |
| Merced County, CA | 80 km (49 mi) | W of here | earthquakes near Merced County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
54 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 3.0 3km ESE of Aromas, CA
- 1.6 10km N of Boulder Creek, CA
- 1.5 18km WSW of Westley, CA
- 1.6 3km E of Aromas, CA
- 1.8 15km N of Hollister, CA
- 1.8 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
- 1.8 6km W of Hollister, CA
- 1.5 3km E of Aromas, CA
- 1.8 8km NE of Alum Rock, CA
- 2.4 9km ENE of San Martin, CA
- 2.3 13km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
- 1.8 10km ENE of Milpitas, CA
- 1.6 8km NE of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.7 10km E of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.6 6km SSW of Gilroy, 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 63 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
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.