QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2ml

2km E of Aromas, CA

· 6.8 km deep · released about 1.1 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 37 kmSanta Clara County 38 kmSan Benito County 57 kmMonterey County 77 kmMerced County 87 kmAlameda County 88 kmSan Mateo County 89 kmStanislaus County 93 kmContra Costa County 118 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 3.2 (ml)
Depth
6.8 km below the surface
Felt
125 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 37 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2079 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 125 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 160,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,200× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1.1 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.2× more

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 36.8877, -121.6213. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 37 km (23 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 38 km (23 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Benito County, CA 57 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 87 km (54 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Alameda County, CA 88 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

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

  1. 2.1 6km E of Tres Pinos, CA
  2. 1.5 7km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  3. 2.2 9km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  4. 2.1 7km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  5. 1.8 7km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  6. 2.6 2km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  7. 1.9 4km WSW of Hollister, CA
  8. 1.8 7km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  9. 1.9 11km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 1.7 14km N of Morgan Hill, CA
  11. 2.1 10km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  12. 1.5 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  13. 1.9 5km NE of Tres Pinos, CA
  14. 2.1 7km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  15. 1.9 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 170 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.