QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.8mw

9km ENE of Gilroy, CA

· 6.2 km deep · released about 6.6 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 27 kmSanta Cruz County 47 kmSan Benito County 60 kmMerced County 69 kmStanislaus County 71 kmAlameda County 77 kmSan Mateo County 89 kmMonterey County 91 kmSan Joaquin County 101 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 3.8 (mw)
Depth
6.2 km below the surface
Felt
1014 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 27 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1972 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1014 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 26,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 810× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 6.6 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 14× more

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 37.0457, -121.4782. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 27 km (17 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 47 km (29 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 60 km (37 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Merced County, CA 69 km (43 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 71 km (44 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Alameda County, CA 77 km (48 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 6km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  2. 1.9 6km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  3. 2.5 6km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  4. 1.5 6km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  5. 3.3 6km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  6. 2.3 12km NNE of Hollister, CA
  7. 2.6 7km E of Alum Rock, CA
  8. 1.7 12km NNE of Hollister, CA
  9. 1.9 10km E of Gilroy, CA
  10. 1.8 11km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  11. 1.9 8km NE of Ridgemark, CA
  12. 2.8 8km NE of Ridgemark, CA
  13. 3.2 10km E of Gilroy, CA
  14. 1.7 8km NE of Ridgemark, CA
  15. 2.5 15km ENE of Alum Rock, 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 27 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.