QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

13km ESE of Alum Rock, CA

· 5.9 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 11 kmAlameda County 41 kmSanta Cruz County 45 kmSan Mateo County 61 kmStanislaus County 66 kmContra Costa County 70 kmSan Joaquin County 77 kmMerced County 87 kmSan Benito County 96 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
5.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 11 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2139 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 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 37.3235, -121.6877. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 11 km (7 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Alameda County, CA 41 km (26 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Santa Cruz County, CA 45 km (28 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Mateo County, CA 61 km (38 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Stanislaus County, CA 66 km (41 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Contra Costa County, CA 70 km (44 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  2. 1.8 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  3. 1.9 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  4. 1.7 5km N of Aromas, CA
  5. 1.9 3km S of Los Altos Hills, CA
  6. 1.9 6km S of Gilroy, CA
  7. 2.1 6km S of Gilroy, CA
  8. 1.8 5km SW of Gilroy, CA
  9. 1.8 6km E of Milpitas, CA
  10. 2.1 8km ENE of Alum Rock, CA
  11. 1.8 3km ESE of Aromas, CA
  12. 1.9 3km ESE of Aromas, CA
  13. 1.5 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
  14. 1.6 10km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
  15. 1.5 2km ESE 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 4.1 on 2017-10-10 — it released about 6,900 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.