QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

9km N of San Juan Bautista, CA

· 6.2 km deep · released about 510 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 36 kmSanta Cruz County 44 kmSan Benito County 52 kmMerced County 77 kmMonterey County 78 kmStanislaus County 85 kmAlameda County 88 kmSan Mateo County 93 kmSan Joaquin County 115 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
6.2 km below the surface
Felt
18 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 36 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1607 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 18 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 510 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 30,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 21,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.9× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 510 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 36.9223, -121.5218. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 36 km (23 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 44 km (28 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 52 km (32 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Merced County, CA 77 km (48 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Monterey County, CA 78 km (49 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Stanislaus County, CA 85 km (53 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.6 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  2. 2.0 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  3. 3.3 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  4. 1.6 9km ENE of Gilroy, CA
  5. 1.8 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
  6. 1.6 8km ENE of Gilroy, CA
  7. 2.1 12km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  8. 2.2 8km ENE of Gilroy, CA
  9. 1.7 4km NNW of Hollister, CA
  10. 1.7 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  11. 2.1 6km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
  12. 2.2 5km ESE of Aromas, CA
  13. 3.6 4km ENE of Corralitos, CA
  14. 1.6 1km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  15. 1.9 8km NNW of Pinnacles, 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 680 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.