Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7md
Earthquake near Corralitos, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Corralitos in the 24 hours to 2:38 am PST (10:38 UTC). The last one was M 2.4, 20 km (12 mi) ESE, at 12:04 pm PDT on 22 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Corralitos
This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 6 km (3 mi) north-northeast of Corralitos, CA, at 6:45 pm PDT on 24 October 2020 (01:45 UTC), 8.4 km deep.
USGS: 6km NNE of Corralitos, CA
29 km (18 mi) S of San Jose, CA · 12 km (8 mi) N of Watsonville, CA
- When
- 6:45 pm PDT on 24 October 2020 ()
- Where
- 6 km (3 mi) north-northeast of Corralitos, CA · earthquakes near Corralitos
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (md)
- Depth
- 8.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Cruz County, 20 km W
- Nearest mapped fault
- San Andreas fault, under 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2200 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Corralitos, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Corralitos, CA. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Corralitos, 6 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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Day Valley, Amesti, Aptos Hills-Larkin Valley, Interlaken, Aptos, Rio Del Mar.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 10 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 92× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 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
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.1 on 2017-10-10 — about 4,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 31 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 9 km W of this epicentre
- 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 15 km NE of this epicentre
- 6.3 22 km S of Davenport, California · 45 km WSW of this epicentre
- 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 30 km N of this epicentre
- 6.2 The 1984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake · 32 km NNE of this epicentre
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 37.0347, -121.7803. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 20 km (13 mi) | W | earthquakes near Santa Cruz County |
| Santa Clara County, CA | 22 km (14 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Santa Clara County |
| San Mateo County, CA | 67 km (42 mi) | NW | earthquakes near San Mateo County |
| Alameda County, CA | 69 km (43 mi) | N | earthquakes near Alameda County |
| San Benito County, CA | 78 km (48 mi) | SE | earthquakes near San Benito County |
| Stanislaus County, CA | 90 km (56 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Stanislaus County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
45 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 3.2 3km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
- 2.6 16km E of Seven Trees, CA
- 1.9 11km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
- 1.8 2km ESE of Aromas, CA
- 1.5 8km ENE of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.7 10km NNE of San Martin, CA
- 2.7 3km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
- 1.8 3km E of Aromas, CA
- 1.6 9km NE of Milpitas, CA
- 1.7 7km N of Day Valley, CA
- 2.3 6km SSW of Gilroy, CA
- 1.8 2km ENE of Aromas, CA
- 1.5 8km ESE of Prunedale, CA
- 3.5 10km ENE of Morgan Hill, CA
- 3.7 10km ENE of Morgan Hill, 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.
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.