Earthquake near Hollister, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 13 km (8 mi) from the epicentre. In Hollister, 9 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: Hollister 9 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 29 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 520,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 370,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 33× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 29 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 4.7 on 2019-10-15 — about 12,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 24 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 44 km NW of this epicentre Jul 1, 1911
2. 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 12 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 9, 1961
3. 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 36 km WNW of this epicentre Mar 11, 1910
4. 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 16 km SSE of this epicentre Aug 6, 1916
5. 5.8 The 1979 Coyote Lake, California Earthquake · 38 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 6, 1979

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 36.7895, -121.3422. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 7km NW of Pinnacles, CA 07:49 UTC
2. 1.6 10km S of Tres Pinos, CA 00:36 UTC
3. 1.6 10km SSW of Ridgemark, CA 20:12 UTC
4. 2.1 14km S of Tres Pinos, CA 13:38 UTC
5. 1.5 3km E of Aromas, CA 22:36 UTC
6. 1.7 12km ESE of Gilroy, CA 15:59 UTC
7. 1.9 2km NNE of Pinnacles, CA 04:28 UTC
8. 3.3 10km NE of Morgan Hill, CA 20:14 UTC
9. 1.8 10km SE of Pinnacles, CA 17:08 UTC
10. 1.8 10km ENE of Pinnacles, CA 15:05 UTC
11. 1.7 11km ENE of Pinnacles, CA 09:37 UTC
12. 2.1 5km E of Pinnacles, CA 11:33 UTC
13. 2.3 5km ENE of Pinnacles, CA 20:14 UTC
14. 1.7 2km ENE of Aromas, CA 18:05 UTC
15. 2.7 2km NNE of Pinnacles, CA 12:59 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:36 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.