Earthquake near Santa Cruz, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Santa Cruz, 36 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 16 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 970,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 680,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 61× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 16 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.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.3 22 km S of Davenport, California · 19 km ESE of this epicentre Oct 22, 1926
2. 6.3 16 km SW of Davenport, California · 9 km NE of this epicentre Oct 22, 1926
3. 5.8 7 km NNW of Boulder Creek, California · 43 km NNE of this epicentre Sep 5, 1955
4. 5.7 Monterey Bay area, California · 28 km ESE of this epicentre Dec 31, 1910
5. 5.5 Santa Cruz Mountains, California · 50 km NE of this epicentre Nov 9, 1914

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 36.8632, -122.4077. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 1.6 13 km SSW of Bonny Doon, CA 13:36 UTC
2. 1.6 18 km SSW of Santa Cruz, CA 10:42 UTC
3. 1.6 4 km SSW of Lexington Hills, CA 04:10 UTC
4. 1.7 4km SW of Felton, CA 20:01 UTC
5. 1.8 6km NW of Pacific Grove, CA 08:18 UTC
6. 2.1 10km SW of Bonny Doon, CA 19:16 UTC
7. 2.4 13km WSW of Santa Cruz, CA 14:29 UTC
8. 2.0 11km W of Moss Landing, CA 04:00 UTC
9. 1.8 12km W of Saratoga, CA 16:03 UTC
10. 2.2 34km W of Bonny Doon, CA 10:03 UTC
11. 1.9 11km SW of Bonny Doon, CA 06:03 UTC
12. 1.6 12km NW of Pacific Grove, CA 15:33 UTC
13. 1.7 22km W of Bonny Doon, CA 09:07 UTC
14. 2.7 5km SSW of Lexington Hills, CA 16:51 UTC
15. 1.7 23km WNW of Bonny Doon, CA 00:17 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 20:37 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

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.