QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

5km NE of San Martin, CA

· 2.9 km deep · released about 5.7 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 15 kmSanta Cruz County 40 kmAlameda County 65 kmStanislaus County 70 kmSan Benito County 72 kmMerced County 76 kmSan Mateo County 78 kmSan Joaquin County 94 kmContra Costa County 95 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
2.9 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 15 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1286 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.7 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 2,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.7 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 37.1228, -121.5750. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 15 km (9 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 40 km (25 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Alameda County, CA 65 km (41 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Stanislaus County, CA 70 km (44 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
San Benito County, CA 72 km (44 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Merced County, CA 76 km (47 mi) W of here earthquakes near Merced County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.1 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  2. 2.0 5km NE of Alum Rock, CA
  3. 1.7 5km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  4. 1.6 9km NNE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  5. 1.6 9km NE of Milpitas, CA
  6. 1.6 8km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  7. 2.1 9km E of Alum Rock, CA
  8. 2.3 9km E of Alum Rock, CA
  9. 1.9 7km NE of Alum Rock, CA
  10. 1.5 8km NE of Alum Rock, CA
  11. 2.2 10km E of Gilroy, CA
  12. 3.1 16km E of Seven Trees, CA
  13. 1.6 5km ESE of Interlaken, CA
  14. 2.7 12km NNW of Hollister, CA
  15. 2.0 8km NE of Alum Rock, 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 200,000 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.