Narrative:

We were descending via the RAZRR4 arrival into sjc. ATC gave us a heading off the arrival for traffic ahead. This sent us southeast of the ggugl intersection. After giving us direct to ggugl; ATC cleared us to descend to 5;100 ft. We executed a slow vs descent to 5;100 ft with both terrain pbs on. Once level at 5;100 ft we experienced continuous moderate turbulence. The aircraft momentarily pitched down in the turbulence and we received a GPWS terrain warning. We quickly executed the escape maneuver. There was no indication of terrain on the nd (basic a/C) and the warning went away almost immediately after beginning the maneuver. We were able to level off again at about 6;500 ft. We notified ATC that we had a terrain warning and queried about the minimum vectoring altitude in the area. They said that we were at minimum vectoring altitude of 5;100 ft. We then got vectors and altitude assignments from ATC to continue a normal approach into 12R at sjc.I believe that we had a momentary rate of descent trend from the turbulence that triggered the GPWS system. The highest terrain in the area was about 4;050 ft and we were at minimum vectoring altitude of 5;100.this could have been avoided if ATC would have kept us higher in an area with moderate turbulence so that there would be more margin between the terrain and our altitude.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 flight crew reported executing the escape maneuver after receiving a terrain alert at minimum vectoring altitude on arrival into SJC.

Narrative: We were descending via the RAZRR4 arrival into SJC. ATC gave us a heading off the arrival for traffic ahead. This sent us SE of the GGUGL intersection. After giving us direct to GGUGL; ATC cleared us to descend to 5;100 ft. We executed a slow VS descent to 5;100 ft with both Terrain PBs on. Once level at 5;100 ft we experienced continuous moderate turbulence. The aircraft momentarily pitched down in the turbulence and we received a GPWS Terrain Warning. We quickly executed the escape maneuver. There was no indication of terrain on the ND (Basic A/C) and the warning went away almost immediately after beginning the maneuver. We were able to level off again at about 6;500 ft. We notified ATC that we had a terrain warning and queried about the minimum vectoring altitude in the area. They said that we were at minimum vectoring altitude of 5;100 ft. We then got vectors and altitude assignments from ATC to continue a normal approach into 12R at SJC.I believe that we had a momentary rate of descent trend from the turbulence that triggered the GPWS system. The highest terrain in the area was about 4;050 ft and we were at minimum vectoring altitude of 5;100.This could have been avoided if ATC would have kept us higher in an area with moderate turbulence so that there would be more margin between the terrain and our altitude.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.