QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

4 km WSW of Saratoga, CA

· 6.8 km deep · released about 25 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 27 kmSanta Clara County 33 kmSan Mateo County 33 kmAlameda County 46 kmContra Costa County 75 kmStanislaus County 100 kmSan Francisco County 101 kmSan Joaquin County 103 kmMarin County 108 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
6.8 km below the surface
Felt
5 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 27 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 178 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 5 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 25 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 420,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 38× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 25 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 37.2492, -122.0605. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 27 km (17 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 33 km (20 mi) W of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Mateo County, CA 33 km (21 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Alameda County, CA 46 km (29 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Contra Costa County, CA 75 km (47 mi) S of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Stanislaus County, CA 100 km (62 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

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

  1. 2.5 5 km SW of Loyola, CA
  2. 1.6 9 km ENE of San Martin, CA
  3. 2.2 4 km S of Highlands-Baywood Park, CA
  4. 1.9 3 km ESE of Hayward, CA
  5. 2.6 16 km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
  6. 1.7 14 km WSW of Portola Valley, CA
  7. 1.7 14 km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
  8. 2.4 14 km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
  9. 2.5 9 km ENE of Morgan Hill, CA
  10. 1.6 11 km of Boulder Creek, CA
  11. 2.4 8 km NNE of Interlaken, CA
  12. 1.8 6 km SSE of Portola Valley, CA
  13. 1.7 6 km SW of Los Altos Hills, CA
  14. 1.5 1 km E of Union City, CA
  15. 1.8 7 km 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 46,000 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.