QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

3km NNE of Corralitos, CA

· 13 km deep · released about 720 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 19 kmSanta Clara County 25 kmSan Mateo County 68 kmAlameda County 71 kmSan Benito County 78 kmStanislaus County 93 kmMonterey County 96 kmMerced County 97 kmContra Costa 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
288 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 19 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2661 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 288 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 720 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 21,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 15,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 720 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 37.0140, -121.7985. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 19 km (12 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 25 km (16 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Mateo County, CA 68 km (42 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Alameda County, CA 71 km (44 mi) S of here earthquakes near Alameda County
San Benito County, CA 78 km (48 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Stanislaus County, CA 93 km (58 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

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

  1. 2.2 8km ENE of Alum Rock, CA
  2. 2.0 8km ENE of Alum Rock, CA
  3. 3.0 3km ESE of Aromas, CA
  4. 1.8 1km NE of Tres Pinos, CA
  5. 1.6 10km N of Boulder Creek, CA
  6. 2.6 9km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  7. 2.7 8km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  8. 2.4 21km NW of Pacific Grove, CA
  9. 1.6 3km E of Aromas, CA
  10. 1.8 15km N of Hollister, CA
  11. 1.8 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
  12. 2.9 10km NNE of Tres Pinos, CA
  13. 2.1 7km WSW of Ridgemark, CA
  14. 1.8 6km W of Hollister, CA
  15. 1.5 3km E of Aromas, 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 57 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.