QuakeIndex

quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

3km E of Aromas, CA

· -0.1 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 38 kmSanta Cruz County 38 kmSan Benito County 56 kmMonterey County 77 kmMerced County 86 kmAlameda County 89 kmSan Mateo County 89 kmStanislaus County 92 kmContra Costa County 119 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
-0.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 38 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2383 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 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 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 970,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 86× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 36.8883, -121.6100. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 38 km (23 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 38 km (24 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 56 km (35 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 77 km (48 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 86 km (53 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Alameda County, CA 89 km (55 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

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

  1. 1.8 9km ENE of Morgan Hill, CA
  2. 1.7 3km SW of Lexington Hills, CA
  3. 2.3 12km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  4. 1.9 22km W of Los Banos, CA
  5. 2.9 8km ESE of Prunedale, CA
  6. 1.7 17km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  7. 1.8 15km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  8. 1.9 16km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 2.0 13km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
  10. 2.1 22km W of Los Banos, CA
  11. 1.9 2km ESE of Aromas, CA
  12. 2.0 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  13. 1.5 4km ESE of Aromas, CA
  14. 1.9 8km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  15. 2.3 4km ESE 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 32,000 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.