QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 1.1md

Earthquake near Aromas, CA

USGS: 1 km NE of Aromas, CA

13 km (8 mi) ESE of Watsonville, CA · 47 km (29 mi) SSE of San Jose, CA

7:57 am PDT, Sep 30, 2026 · · 2.4 km deep · released about 1.3 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Santa Cruz County 36 kmSanta Clara County 37 kmSan Benito County 58 kmMonterey County 78 kmSan Mateo County 87 kmAlameda County 87 kmMerced County 88 kmStanislaus County 93 kmContra Costa 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
7:57 am PDT on 30 September 2026 ()
Where
in Aromas, CA · earthquakes near Aromas
Magnitude
M 1.1 (md)
Depth
2.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Santa Cruz County, 36 km WNW
Nearest mapped fault
San Andreas fault, 2 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 2 days ago

A magnitude 1.1 earthquake was recorded in Aromas, CA, at 7:57 am PDT on 30 September 2026 (14:57 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Las Lomas, Pajaro, San Juan Bautista, Interlaken, Watsonville, Elkhorn.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.3 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 12,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 8,500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 760× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.1 about 1.3 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 930,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 31 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 27 km NW of this epicentre
  2. 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 24 km N of this epicentre
  3. 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 47 km NNW of this epicentre
  4. 6.2 The 1984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake · 46 km N of this epicentre
  5. 6.1 Near San Jose, California · 37 km NNW 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 36.8938, -121.6350. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Santa Cruz County, CA 36 km (22 mi) WNW earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 37 km (23 mi) N earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Benito County, CA 58 km (36 mi) ESE earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 78 km (49 mi) SSE earthquakes near Monterey County
San Mateo County, CA 87 km (54 mi) NW earthquakes near San Mateo County
Alameda County, CA 87 km (54 mi) NNW earthquakes near Alameda County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.4 11 km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
  2. 2.5 10 km NW of Pinnacles, 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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.