QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

13km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA

· 5.0 km deep · released about 72 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 6 kmSanta Cruz County 42 kmAlameda County 52 kmStanislaus County 66 kmSan Mateo County 69 kmMerced County 80 kmContra Costa County 81 kmSan Joaquin County 83 kmSan Benito County 85 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 6 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2672 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 72 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 210,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 150,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 13× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 72 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 37.2422, -121.6260. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
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 52 km (32 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Stanislaus County, CA 66 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 (50 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

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

  1. 1.8 5km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
  2. 1.5 16km N of Morgan Hill, CA
  3. 1.7 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  4. 2.3 9km NE of Hollister, CA
  5. 2.0 3km SW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  6. 1.5 5km SSW of Gilroy, CA
  7. 1.7 5km NNW of Aromas, CA
  8. 1.9 12km ENE of Milpitas, CA
  9. 1.6 7km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  10. 2.5 8km NE of Alum Rock, CA
  11. 1.6 9km NE of Milpitas, CA
  12. 2.0 2km WSW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  13. 1.5 3km E of Aromas, CA
  14. 2.5 4km SW of Saratoga, CA
  15. 2.0 4km SW of Saratoga, 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 580 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.