QuakeIndex

quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

9km NE of Gilroy, CA

· -0.3 km deep · released about 6.2 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 23 kmSanta Cruz County 45 kmSan Benito County 63 kmStanislaus County 71 kmMerced County 71 kmAlameda County 74 kmSan Mateo County 85 kmMonterey County 94 kmSan Joaquin County 99 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
-0.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 23 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1955 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.2 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 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 6.2 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 37.0683, -121.5093. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 23 km (15 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 45 km (28 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 63 km (39 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Stanislaus County, CA 71 km (44 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Merced County, CA 71 km (44 mi) W of here earthquakes near Merced County
Alameda County, CA 74 km (46 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

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

  1. 1.9 12km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  2. 1.6 9km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  3. 1.8 2km ENE of Aromas, CA
  4. 1.6 7km ESE of Prunedale, CA
  5. 2.2 4km NNW of Hollister, CA
  6. 1.8 7km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  7. 2.7 4km NNW of Hollister, CA
  8. 1.7 9km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
  9. 1.8 12km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  10. 1.9 3km SSW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  11. 1.6 8km NE of Ridgemark, CA
  12. 2.0 3km SSW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  13. 1.5 8km ENE of Gilroy, CA
  14. 2.4 9km NE of San Martin, CA
  15. 1.7 2km ENE 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 4.2 on 2016-07-19 — it released about 10,000 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.