QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

9km E of Alum Rock, CA

· 7.2 km deep · released about 44 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Clara County 18 kmAlameda County 34 kmSanta Cruz County 48 kmSan Mateo County 57 kmContra Costa County 63 kmStanislaus County 67 kmSan Joaquin County 74 kmMerced County 91 kmSolano County 100 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
7.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Clara County, 18 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1244 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 44 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 340,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 240,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 44 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 37.3807, -121.7272. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Clara County, CA 18 km (11 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Alameda County, CA 34 km (21 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Santa Cruz County, CA 48 km (30 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Mateo County, CA 57 km (35 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Contra Costa County, CA 63 km (39 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Stanislaus County, CA 67 km (42 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

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

  1. 1.5 8 km NE of Milpitas, CA
  2. 2.3 9 km NE of Milpitas, CA
  3. 3.6 14 km N of Morgan Hill, CA
  4. 1.7 15 km E of Seven Trees, CA
  5. 1.6 4 km SSW of Lexington Hills, CA
  6. 1.9 12 km NE of Milpitas, CA
  7. 2.6 11 km E of Alum Rock, CA
  8. 3.0 10 km E of Alum Rock, CA
  9. 2.2 10 km E of Alum Rock, CA
  10. 2.0 13 km WNW of Westley, CA
  11. 1.9 24 km NE of Alum Rock, CA
  12. 1.6 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
  13. 1.5 3km SSW of Cupertino, CA
  14. 3.0 8km NE of Gilroy, CA
  15. 1.9 8km NE 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 27,000 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.