QuakeIndex

quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

2km E of Aromas, CA

· -0.1 km deep · released about 85 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 37 kmSanta Cruz County 37 kmSan Benito County 57 kmMonterey County 77 kmMerced County 86 kmAlameda County 88 kmSan Mateo County 89 kmStanislaus County 92 kmContra Costa County 118 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
-0.1 km below the surface
Felt
46 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 37 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1102 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 46 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 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 36.8917, -121.6160. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 37 km (23 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 37 km (23 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Benito County, CA 57 km (35 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 77 km (48 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 86 km (54 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Alameda County, CA 88 km (55 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 3km WSW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  2. 2.0 2km N of Hollister, CA
  3. 1.7 11km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  4. 1.9 14km N of Morgan Hill, CA
  5. 1.6 11km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  6. 1.6 2km E of Aromas, CA
  7. 1.5 2km WSW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  8. 2.0 14km ENE of Seven Trees, CA
  9. 1.6 16km E of Seven Trees, CA
  10. 1.7 12km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
  11. 1.6 2km E of Aromas, CA
  12. 3.1 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  13. 1.7 5km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  14. 1.6 9km NNE of San Juan Bautista, CA
  15. 1.6 8km WSW of Gilroy, 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 14,000 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.