QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

0km SW of Los Gatos, CA

· 7.4 km deep · released about 19 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 24 kmSanta Clara County 26 kmSan Mateo County 41 kmAlameda County 48 kmContra Costa County 77 kmStanislaus County 94 kmSan Joaquin County 101 kmSan Benito County 104 kmSan Francisco County 109 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
7.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 24 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2214 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 19 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 810,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 580,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 51× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 19 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 37.2228, -121.9780. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 24 km (15 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 26 km (16 mi) W of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Mateo County, CA 41 km (25 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Alameda County, CA 48 km (30 mi) S of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Contra Costa County, CA 77 km (48 mi) S of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Stanislaus County, CA 94 km (58 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus 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. 1.8 8km SSW of Loyola, CA
  2. 2.5 7km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  3. 1.9 3km E of Aromas, CA
  4. 1.9 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  5. 1.9 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  6. 2.7 7km N of Boulder Creek, CA
  7. 1.7 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  8. 2.2 10km NE of Milpitas, CA
  9. 2.2 7km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  10. 1.9 10km NE of Milpitas, CA
  11. 2.1 10km NE of Milpitas, CA
  12. 2.0 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  13. 2.9 10km NE of Milpitas, CA
  14. 1.5 8km NE of Gilroy, CA
  15. 1.7 10km NE of Milpitas, 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 4.1 on 2017-10-10 — it released about 2,200 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.