Earthquake near Clayton, CA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 3 km (2 mi) from the epicentre. In Clayton, 5 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Pittsburg, Antioch, Bay Point, Concord, Pleasant Hill, Waldon.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 67 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 230,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 160,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 14× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.2 about 67 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 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 46 km NW of this epicentre Aug 24, 2014
2. 5.8 The 1980 Livermore, California Earthquake · 18 km SE of this epicentre Jan 24, 1980
3. 5.4 South of Elmira, California · 37 km N of this epicentre May 19, 1902
4. 5.4 9 km NE of Livermore, California · 29 km SSE of this epicentre Jan 27, 1980
5. 5.1 11 km E of Blackhawk, California · 20 km SSE of this epicentre Jan 24, 1980

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 37.9700, -121.8895. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 5 km ENE of Chinatown, California 18:56 UTC
2. 1.9 2 km ENE of Diablo, California 09:08 UTC
3. 1.6 5 km ESE of Piedmont, California 14:30 UTC
4. 1.6 1 km NW of Ashland, California 22:58 UTC
5. 1.5 10 km N of Livermore, California 16:39 UTC
6. 1.6 1 km N of Pacheco, California 10:02 UTC
7. 2.2 0 km NE of North Gate, California 14:23 UTC
8. 1.8 9 km WSW of Taft Mosswood, California 13:45 UTC
9. 1.7 3 km WNW of Orinda, California 09:31 UTC
10. 1.9 2 km ESE of San Ramon, California 02:45 UTC
11. 1.9 2 km SE of San Ramon, California 04:42 UTC
12. 1.6 10 km ESE of Clayton, California 10:15 UTC
13. 1.6 1 km NE of El Cerrito, California 05:41 UTC
14. 1.7 5 km E of Alameda, California 15:35 UTC
15. 2.0 5 km E of Alameda, California 15:04 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 09:20 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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