Earthquake near Lexington Hills, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 20 km (12 mi) from the epicentre. In Lexington Hills, 5 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Likely felt in: Scotts Valley 8 km, intensity II · Boulder Creek 11 km, intensity II · Los Gatos 12 km, intensity II · Saratoga 16 km, intensity II · Live Oak 16 km, intensity II · Capitola 17 km, intensity II · Santa Cruz 17 km, intensity II · Campbell 19 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 320 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 48,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 34,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.7 about 320 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.2 on 2021-01-17 — about 190 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 28 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 14 km SE of this epicentre Oct 18, 1989
2. 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 32 km E of this epicentre Jul 1, 1911
3. 6.3 22 km S of Davenport, California · 40 km SSW of this epicentre Oct 22, 1926
4. 6.3 16 km SW of Davenport, California · 38 km SW of this epicentre Oct 22, 1926
5. 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 26 km NE of this epicentre Aug 3, 1903

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 37.1243, -121.9952. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.8 14km E of Seven Trees, CA 21:45 UTC
2. 2.0 4km SSE of Highlands-Baywood Park, CA 14:24 UTC
3. 2.4 14km N of Morgan Hill, CA 08:17 UTC
4. 1.7 4km ESE of Aromas, CA 07:53 UTC
5. 1.6 4km ESE of Aromas, CA 07:42 UTC
6. 1.8 10km ENE of Morgan Hill, CA 05:28 UTC
7. 1.7 16km N of Morgan Hill, CA 11:59 UTC
8. 1.8 11km NE of Milpitas, CA 17:31 UTC
9. 2.2 7km S of Gilroy, CA 06:17 UTC
10. 2.0 4km E of Interlaken, CA 21:49 UTC
11. 2.0 5km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA 06:44 UTC
12. 2.5 8km NE of Alum Rock, CA 21:26 UTC
13. 2.8 5km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA 20:52 UTC
14. 2.7 5km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA 20:22 UTC
15. 2.1 5km SE of Aromas, CA 20:21 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 18:11 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.