QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

17 km SW of Santa Cruz, CA

· 11 km deep · released about 79 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 22 kmSanta Clara County 58 kmSan Mateo County 68 kmAlameda County 92 kmSan Benito County 96 kmMonterey County 98 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
11 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 22 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 446 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 79 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 5.8 190,000× 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 12× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 79 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 36.8380, -122.1285. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Santa Cruz County, CA 22 km (14 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 58 km (36 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Mateo County, CA 68 km (42 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Alameda County, CA 92 km (57 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
San Benito County, CA 96 km (60 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 98 km (61 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Monterey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 4 km WNW of San Juan Bautista, CA
  2. 1.7 7 km ESE of Prunedale, CA
  3. 2.8 4 km N of Corralitos, CA
  4. 1.6 2 km ENE of Aromas, CA
  5. 1.5 3 km ENE of Aromas, CA
  6. 2.2 5 km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
  7. 2.8 5 km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
  8. 2.5 5 km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
  9. 2.5 5 km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
  10. 3.2 5 km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
  11. 2.1 6 km N of Corralitos, CA
  12. 1.7 6 km NNE of Corralitos, CA
  13. 1.8 2 km E of Aromas, CA
  14. 1.9 6 km SW of Gilroy, CA
  15. 1.8 3 km E of Aromas, 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 4.2 on 2021-01-17 — it released about 760 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.