QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

4km SW of Moss Landing, CA

· 8.4 km deep · released about 91 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 31 kmSanta Clara County 51 kmSan Benito County 68 kmMonterey County 75 kmSan Mateo County 86 kmAlameda County 97 kmMerced County 108 kmStanislaus County 114 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
8.4 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 31 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2118 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 91 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 170,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 120,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 10× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 91 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 36.7758, -121.8218. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 31 km (19 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 51 km (32 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Benito County, CA 68 km (42 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 75 km (46 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Mateo County, CA 86 km (54 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Alameda County, CA 97 km (60 mi) S of here earthquakes near Alameda County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 10km ENE of Morgan Hill, CA
  2. 2.0 13km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  3. 3.8 9km ENE of Gilroy, CA
  4. 1.7 2km SE of Tres Pinos, CA
  5. 2.0 1km NNE of Tres Pinos, CA
  6. 1.6 8km NE of Interlaken, CA
  7. 1.7 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
  8. 2.2 9km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  9. 1.6 10km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 1.7 3km E of Aromas, CA
  11. 1.9 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  12. 1.8 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  13. 1.6 16km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  14. 1.7 9km NNW of Hollister, CA
  15. 1.9 12km ESE of Gilroy, 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 4.2 on 2016-07-19 — it released about 710 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.