QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

6km SW of Gilroy, CA

· 3.3 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 30 kmSanta Cruz County 36 kmSan Benito County 61 kmAlameda County 81 kmMerced County 83 kmSan Mateo County 84 kmMonterey County 85 kmStanislaus County 86 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
3.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 30 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2186 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 12 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 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 870,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 78× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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 36.9633, -121.6092. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 30 km (18 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 36 km (22 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 61 km (38 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Alameda County, CA 81 km (50 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Merced County, CA 83 km (51 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
San Mateo County, CA 84 km (52 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 8km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  2. 1.7 3km E of Aromas, CA
  3. 1.6 7km S of Gilroy, CA
  4. 2.1 6km SE of Tres Pinos, CA
  5. 1.7 3km E of Aromas, CA
  6. 1.9 9km NE of San Martin, CA
  7. 1.5 7km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  8. 1.8 7km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  9. 1.5 4km NNW of Hollister, CA
  10. 2.2 3km NNW of Hollister, CA
  11. 1.6 16km E of Seven Trees, CA
  12. 1.7 6km NNE of Corralitos, CA
  13. 1.7 11km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  14. 1.8 14km NE of Hollister, CA
  15. 1.6 2km NNE of Aromas, 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 29,000 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.