QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2ml

6km E of Interlaken, CA

· 6.5 km deep · released about 1,700 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 31 kmSanta Clara County 31 kmSan Benito County 64 kmAlameda County 81 kmSan Mateo County 81 kmMonterey County 84 kmMerced County 89 kmStanislaus County 91 kmContra Costa County 111 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
6.5 km below the surface
Felt
184 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 31 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1934 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 184 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,700 lb 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 6.7 200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 9,100× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,500× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,700 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.7× 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 36.9438, -121.6710. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 31 km (19 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 31 km (19 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Benito County, CA 64 km (40 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Alameda County, CA 81 km (50 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
San Mateo County, CA 81 km (50 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Monterey County, CA 84 km (52 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.3 12km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  2. 2.3 12km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  3. 2.2 6km E of Alum Rock, CA
  4. 1.5 14km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  5. 2.0 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  6. 2.4 12km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  7. 1.6 5km SSW of Gilroy, CA
  8. 1.6 15km E of Seven Trees, CA
  9. 2.8 14km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 2.0 2km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  11. 2.6 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  12. 1.8 5km ESE of Interlaken, CA
  13. 1.6 14km SE of Tres Pinos, CA
  14. 2.9 11km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  15. 1.7 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, 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 210 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.