QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

20 km SSW of Gustine, CA

· 6.8 km deep · released about 21 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Merced County 35 kmStanislaus County 53 kmSan Benito County 53 kmSanta Clara County 55 kmSanta Cruz County 82 kmSan Joaquin County 95 kmAlameda County 95 kmMonterey County 97 kmMariposa 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
6.8 km below the surface
Felt
1 report
Nearest
Merced County, 35 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 106 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 21 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 5.8 730,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 520,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 46× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 21 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 37.0900, -121.0910. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Merced County, CA 35 km (22 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 53 km (33 mi) S of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
San Benito County, CA 53 km (33 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Clara County, CA 55 km (34 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Santa Cruz County, CA 82 km (51 mi) E of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Joaquin County, CA 95 km (59 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

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

  1. 2.3 12 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  2. 2.9 11 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  3. 2.8 10 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  4. 1.9 11 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  5. 1.5 12 km NNW of Hollister, CA
  6. 1.8 12 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  7. 3.0 12 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  8. 2.4 11 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  9. 1.9 4 km S of Ridgemark, CA
  10. 2.1 11 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  11. 1.7 25 km W of Los Banos, CA
  12. 2.5 11 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  13. 2.1 11 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  14. 1.6 11 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
  15. 1.7 12 km ESE 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 4.5 on 2023-09-19 — it released about 9,100 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.