QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

8km NE of Gilroy, CA

· 7.0 km deep · released about 6.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 25 kmSanta Cruz County 45 kmSan Benito County 61 kmMerced County 71 kmStanislaus County 72 kmAlameda County 76 kmSan Mateo County 87 kmMonterey County 92 kmSan Joaquin County 100 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
7.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 25 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2405 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 6.6 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.6 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 37.0525, -121.5000. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 25 km (16 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 45 km (28 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 61 km (38 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Merced County, CA 71 km (44 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 72 km (45 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Alameda County, CA 76 km (47 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 22km W of Los Banos, CA
  2. 2.9 8km ESE of Prunedale, CA
  3. 1.7 17km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  4. 2.0 13km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
  5. 2.1 22km W of Los Banos, CA
  6. 1.9 2km ESE of Aromas, CA
  7. 2.0 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  8. 1.5 4km ESE of Aromas, CA
  9. 2.0 7km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
  10. 1.9 8km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  11. 2.3 4km ESE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  12. 1.5 25km NE of Hollister, CA
  13. 1.9 2km NE of Hollister, CA
  14. 1.6 3km WSW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  15. 3.0 9km SSE 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 4.7 on 2019-10-15 — it released about 53,000 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.