Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.6md
Earthquake near Morgan Hill, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Morgan Hill in the 24 hours to 2:31 am PST (10:31 UTC). The last one was M 2.6, 20 km (13 mi) N, at 12:38 pm PDT on 27 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 8 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Morgan Hill
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 10 km (6 mi) east-northeast of Morgan Hill, CA, at 6:33 am PDT on 9 October 2025 (13:33 UTC), 3.9 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 10 km ENE of Morgan Hill, CA
28 km (17 mi) ESE of San Jose, CA · 18 km (11 mi) N of Gilroy, CA
- When
- 6:33 am PDT on 9 October 2025 ()
- Where
- 10 km (6 mi) east-northeast of Morgan Hill, CA · earthquakes near Morgan Hill
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (md)
- Depth
- 3.9 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Clara County, 14 km WNW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Calaveras fault, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 399 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Morgan Hill, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Morgan Hill, CA. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 10 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Morgan Hill, 10 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
Likely felt in: Morgan Hill 10 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 6.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,400,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.4 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.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 5.1 on 2022-10-25 — about 180,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 28 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 33 km WSW of this epicentre
- 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 10 km SW of this epicentre
- 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 27 km NW of this epicentre
- 6.2 The 1984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake · 20 km NW of this epicentre
- 6.1 Near San Jose, California · 23 km W of this epicentre
Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.
Where
Epicentre 37.1632, -121.5500. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara County, CA | 14 km (9 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Santa Clara County |
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 44 km (27 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Santa Cruz County |
| Alameda County, CA | 63 km (39 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Alameda County |
| Stanislaus County, CA | 66 km (41 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Stanislaus County |
| Merced County, CA | 73 km (46 mi) | E | earthquakes near Merced County |
| San Benito County, CA | 74 km (46 mi) | SE | earthquakes near San Benito County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
57 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.6 2 km ENE of Aromas, CA
- 1.6 5 km SW of Tres Pinos, CA
- 1.7 8 km NE of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.7 17 km SSE of Livermore, CA
- 1.7 10 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
- 2.6 17 km SSE of Livermore, CA
- 1.6 10 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
- 1.5 10 km NNE of San Martin, CA
- 1.5 3 km ENE of Aromas, CA
- 2.1 9 km NE of Gilroy, CA
- 2.2 5 km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
- 1.7 12 km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
- 2.8 5 km W of San Juan Bautista, CA
- 1.9 9 km E of Gilroy, CA
- 2.5 5 km W 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.
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.