QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

9km NE of Alum Rock, CA

· 8.8 km deep · released about 480 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 24 kmAlameda County 27 kmSanta Cruz County 51 kmSan Mateo County 53 kmContra Costa County 57 kmStanislaus County 70 kmSan Joaquin County 71 kmSolano County 94 kmMerced County 96 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
8.8 km below the surface
Felt
69 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 24 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1354 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 69 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 480 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 32,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 480 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 37.4300, -121.7728. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 24 km (15 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Alameda County, CA 27 km (17 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Santa Cruz County, CA 51 km (32 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Mateo County, CA 53 km (33 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Contra Costa County, CA 57 km (35 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Stanislaus County, CA 70 km (43 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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. 2.1 1km SE of Portola Valley, CA
  2. 1.5 8km SSW of Brentwood, CA
  3. 2.0 8km W of Saratoga, CA
  4. 1.9 9km NE of Gilroy, CA
  5. 2.0 2km NE of Danville, CA
  6. 1.9 2km W of Diablo, CA
  7. 1.9 2km NE of Danville, CA
  8. 1.8 4km SSW of Cupertino, CA
  9. 1.7 9km NE of Blackhawk, CA
  10. 2.1 12km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
  11. 1.5 3km ESE of San Ramon, CA
  12. 2.7 3km NE of San Leandro, CA
  13. 2.3 15km N of Morgan Hill, CA
  14. 2.1 9km NE of San Martin, CA
  15. 2.2 15km N of Morgan Hill, 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 5.1 on 2022-10-25 — it released about 2,500 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.