QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

23km NE of Hollister, CA

· 0.6 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 44 kmSanta Clara County 48 kmMerced County 50 kmStanislaus County 66 kmSanta Cruz County 70 kmMonterey County 84 kmAlameda County 95 kmSan Joaquin County 105 kmSan Mateo County 112 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
0.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Benito County, 44 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2722 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 36.9953, -121.2232. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 44 km (28 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Clara County, CA 48 km (30 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Merced County, CA 50 km (31 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 66 km (41 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Santa Cruz County, CA 70 km (43 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Monterey County, CA 84 km (52 mi) N of here earthquakes near Monterey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
  2. 1.8 14km ESE of Tres Pinos, CA
  3. 2.9 10km NNE of Tres Pinos, CA
  4. 2.1 7km WSW of Ridgemark, CA
  5. 2.0 13km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  6. 2.0 15km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  7. 1.8 6km W of Hollister, CA
  8. 1.5 3km E of Aromas, CA
  9. 1.8 9km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 1.6 3km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 1.6 10km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 2.6 14km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  13. 2.4 9km ENE of San Martin, CA
  14. 1.6 5km NNE of Pinnacles, CA
  15. 2.3 13km NNE 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 4.6 on 2017-11-13 — it released about 18,000 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.