Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5md
9km ENE of Morgan Hill, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (md)
- Depth
- 3.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Clara County, 12 km WNW
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2438 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 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 37.1702, -121.5682. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara County, CA | 12 km (8 mi) | ESE of here | earthquakes near Santa Clara County |
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 43 km (27 mi) | ENE of here | earthquakes near Santa Cruz County |
| Alameda County, CA | 61 km (38 mi) | SSE of here | earthquakes near Alameda County |
| Stanislaus County, CA | 66 km (41 mi) | SW of here | earthquakes near Stanislaus County |
| Merced County, CA | 75 km (47 mi) | W of here | earthquakes near Merced County |
| San Benito County, CA | 75 km (47 mi) | NW of here | earthquakes near San Benito 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.
- 1.7 3km SW of Lexington Hills, CA
- 1.9 22km W of Los Banos, CA
- 2.9 8km ESE of Prunedale, CA
- 2.0 13km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
- 2.1 22km W of Los Banos, CA
- 1.9 2km ESE of Aromas, CA
- 2.0 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA
- 1.5 19km SSE of Livermore, CA
- 1.5 4km ESE of Aromas, CA
- 2.0 7km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.9 8km SW of Ridgemark, CA
- 2.3 4km ESE of San Juan Bautista, CA
- 1.5 25km NE of Hollister, CA
- 1.9 2km NE of Hollister, CA
- 1.6 3km WSW of San Juan Bautista, 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 6,900 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.