QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

1 km ENE of Aromas, CA

· 5.3 km deep · released about 20 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 36 kmSanta Clara County 37 kmSan Benito County 58 kmMonterey County 78 kmMerced County 87 kmAlameda County 87 kmSan Mateo County 88 kmStanislaus County 93 kmContra Costa County 117 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
5.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 36 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1158 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 20 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 760,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 540,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 48× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 20 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 36.8948, -121.6295. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 36 km (22 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 37 km (23 mi) S of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Benito County, CA 58 km (36 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 78 km (48 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 87 km (54 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Alameda County, CA 87 km (54 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

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

  1. 1.6 2 km ENE of Aromas, CA
  2. 1.7 6 km SSW of Gilroy, CA
  3. 3.3 10 km NE of Morgan Hill, CA
  4. 1.5 4 km ESE of Carmel By The Sea, CA
  5. 1.5 7 km ESE of Prunedale, CA
  6. 2.4 10 km NE of Morgan Hill, CA
  7. 1.9 8 km WSW of Gilroy, CA
  8. 1.8 4 km SSW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  9. 1.9 7 km ESE of Prunedale, CA
  10. 2.0 7 km N of Aromas, CA
  11. 1.7 5 km SE of Tres Pinos, CA
  12. 1.6 1 km E of Aromas, CA
  13. 1.7 8 km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  14. 2.4 8 km SSW of Ridgemark, CA
  15. 2.5 4 km S of San Juan Bautista, 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 59,000 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.