QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

5km NE of Alum Rock, CA

· 0.1 km deep · released about 25 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 21 kmAlameda County 30 kmSanta Cruz County 47 kmSan Mateo County 52 kmContra Costa County 60 kmStanislaus County 72 kmSan Joaquin County 75 kmMerced County 97 kmSolano County 98 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
0.1 km below the surface
Felt
14 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 21 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2138 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 14 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 25 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 5.8 620,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 440,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 39× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 25 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 37.3943, -121.7867. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 21 km (13 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Alameda County, CA 30 km (19 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Santa Cruz County, CA 47 km (29 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Mateo County, CA 52 km (32 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Contra Costa County, CA 60 km (37 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Stanislaus County, CA 72 km (45 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

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

  1. 1.9 6km N of Alum Rock, CA
  2. 2.1 8km ESE of Fremont, CA
  3. 2.0 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  4. 1.6 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  5. 1.6 10km NE of Milpitas, CA
  6. 1.5 10km NE of Milpitas, CA
  7. 1.8 10km NE of Milpitas, CA
  8. 3.2 10km NE of Milpitas, CA
  9. 2.0 9km E of Alum Rock, CA
  10. 2.2 12km WSW of Saratoga, CA
  11. 2.1 2km WNW of Castro Valley, CA
  12. 2.0 5km SW of Danville, CA
  13. 1.9 3km S of Los Altos Hills, CA
  14. 1.8 5km SW of Gilroy, CA
  15. 1.8 6km E 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 4.3 on 2019-07-16 — it released about 3,600 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.