QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

3km E of Aromas, CA

· 2.0 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 38 kmSanta Clara County 38 kmSan Benito County 56 kmMonterey County 77 kmMerced County 86 kmAlameda County 88 kmSan Mateo County 89 kmStanislaus County 92 kmContra Costa County 118 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
2.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 38 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1691 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 5.4 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 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 36.8888, -121.6140. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 38 km (23 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 38 km (23 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Benito County, CA 56 km (35 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 77 km (48 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 86 km (54 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Alameda County, CA 88 km (55 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

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

  1. 2.2 5km ESE of Aromas, CA
  2. 3.6 4km ENE of Corralitos, CA
  3. 1.6 1km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  4. 2.6 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
  5. 2.1 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
  6. 2.0 2km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  7. 1.5 12km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
  8. 1.5 8km ENE of Gilroy, CA
  9. 1.7 7km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  10. 1.6 16km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA
  11. 1.6 4km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
  12. 1.9 3km WSW of Hollister, CA
  13. 2.7 5km SSW of Lexington Hills, CA
  14. 1.8 9km SW of Tres Pinos, CA
  15. 1.8 9km SSW of Tres Pinos, 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 65,000 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.