QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

17 km SSW of Gustine, CA

· 0.3 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Merced County 33 kmStanislaus County 50 kmSanta Clara County 54 kmSan Benito County 57 kmSanta Cruz County 82 kmSan Joaquin County 92 kmAlameda County 93 kmMonterey County 100 kmMariposa County 116 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
0.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Merced County, 33 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 275 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 5.4 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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.

Where

Epicentre 37.1205, -121.0885. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Merced County, CA 33 km (21 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 50 km (31 mi) S of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
Santa Clara County, CA 54 km (34 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Benito County, CA 57 km (35 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 82 km (51 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Joaquin County, CA 92 km (57 mi) S of here earthquakes near San Joaquin County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 20 km WSW of Patterson, CA
  2. 2.7 23 km SW of South Dos Palos, CA
  3. 1.9 6 km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  4. 2.7 2 km ESE of San Martin, CA
  5. 2.0 6 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  6. 2.5 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  7. 3.1 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  8. 2.5 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  9. 1.8 6 km SSW of Gilroy, CA
  10. 2.7 6 km SSW of Gilroy, CA
  11. 2.0 8 km ENE of Gilroy, CA
  12. 1.8 31 km SW of South Dos Palos, CA
  13. 1.9 13 km NNE of Tres Pinos, CA
  14. 1.9 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  15. 1.9 17 km WSW of Patterson, 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 4.5 on 2023-09-19 — it released about 35,000 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.