The South Bay was rattled by a cluster of small earthquakes on Wednesday morning, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
A magnitude 4.0 quake hit just east of Gilroy at 6:16 a.m., and it was followed within minutes by two smaller tremors.
At 6:18 a.m., a magnitude 2.7 aftershock hit less than a mile from the epicenter of the first, and at 6:20 a.m., a magnitude 3.6 quake struck slightly south.
The shaking appears to have been centered in San José and throughout the South Bay, with light to moderate shaking closest to the epicenter of the largest quake, though people as far north as Antioch and south as San Lucas reported feeling the quake. No reports of damage were immediately available.
According to the USGS, the Calaveras Fault likely produced the earthquakes. The last large quake recorded on the slip-strike fault was a magnitude 6.2 quake that jolted Morgan Hill in 1984. Cavaleras is believed to have about an 11% chance of producing a larger quake by 2033.
The odds that Wednesday’s cluster of quakes is a precursor to a much bigger one are low — USGS data shows there is about a 14% chance of another one above magnitude 3.0, and those odds drop to 2% for a magnitude 4.0 or higher quake.
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