Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6md
11km WSW of Saratoga, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (md)
- Depth
- 9.9 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Cruz County, 26 km SSE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2488 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 8.1 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.1 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 37.2273, -122.1343. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 26 km (16 mi) | NNW of here | earthquakes near Santa Cruz County |
| San Mateo County, CA | 30 km (18 mi) | SE of here | earthquakes near San Mateo County |
| Santa Clara County, CA | 39 km (24 mi) | W of here | earthquakes near Santa Clara County |
| Alameda County, CA | 51 km (31 mi) | SSW of here | earthquakes near Alameda County |
| Contra Costa County, CA | 79 km (49 mi) | SSW of here | earthquakes near Contra Costa County |
| San Francisco County, CA | 97 km (60 mi) | SE of here | earthquakes near San Francisco County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
36 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.3 11km E of Alum Rock, CA
- 2.0 11km E of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.9 11km E of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.6 10km E of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.8 10km E of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.6 4km ESE of Fremont, CA
- 1.7 3km SW of Lexington Hills, CA
- 2.0 13km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
- 2.0 7km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.9 14km SW of Santa Cruz, CA
- 1.7 1km E of Fremont, CA
- 1.8 30km SW of Bonny Doon, CA
- 1.7 2km ESE of Woodside, CA
- 1.7 6km SSE of Portola Valley, CA
- 1.7 9km NNE of Alum Rock, 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 5,100 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.