QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

Earthquake near Inverness, CA

USGS: 1 km SSE of Inverness, California

51 km (32 mi) NW of San Francisco, CA · 26 km (16 mi) SW of Petaluma, CA

12:49 am PST, Jan 5, 2016 · · 11 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Inverness Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Marin County 10 kmSan Francisco County 43 kmSonoma County 49 kmNapa County 65 kmContra Costa County 81 kmSolano County 82 kmSan Mateo County 86 kmAlameda County 95 kmYolo County 105 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
12:49 am PST on 5 January 2016 ()
Where
in Inverness, CA · earthquakes near Inverness
Magnitude
M 1.7 (md)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Marin County, 10 km ESE
Nearest mapped fault
San Andreas fault, under 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3522 days ago

A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded in Inverness, CA, at 12:49 am PST on 5 January 2016 (08:49 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, Woodacre, Lucas Valley-Marinwood, Bolinas, Novato, Petaluma.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 970,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 86× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 7.9 The 1906 San Francisco, California Earthquake · 46 km SE of this epicentre
  2. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 49 km ENE of this epicentre
  3. 5.3 3 km E of Bloomfield, California · 26 km N of this epicentre
  4. 5.3 Northern California · 26 km N 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 38.0877, -122.8457. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Marin County, CA 10 km (6 mi) ESE earthquakes near Marin County
San Francisco County, CA 43 km (27 mi) SSW earthquakes near San Francisco County
Sonoma County, CA 49 km (31 mi) N earthquakes near Sonoma County
Napa County, CA 65 km (40 mi) NE earthquakes near Napa County
Contra Costa County, CA 81 km (50 mi) ESE earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Solano County, CA 82 km (51 mi) ENE earthquakes near Solano County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 6 km SSW of Yountville, California
  2. 2.7 6 km SSW of Yountville, California
  3. 1.8 10 km NW of Broadmoor, California
  4. 2.1 4 km NE of Inverness, California
  5. 2.1 9 km SSW of Calistoga, California
  6. 1.8 6 km ENE of Santa Rosa, California
  7. 2.4 6 km WNW of Broadmoor, California
  8. 2.0 6 km ENE of Penngrove, California
  9. 2.0 0 km WSW of Muir Beach, California
  10. 3.2 4 km NE of Kenwood, California
  11. 1.7 6 km ESE of Roseland, California
  12. 1.8 4 km SSW of Muir Beach, California
  13. 2.6 5 km SSW of Muir Beach, California
  14. 2.2 5 km NW of American Canyon, California
  15. 1.5 4 km SW of Bodega Bay, California

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.