QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

Earthquake near Santa Rosa, CA

USGS: 6 km ESE of Roseland, California

7 km (4 mi) SE of Santa Rosa, CA

1:29 am PDT, Jul 15, 2016 · · 9.7 km deep · released about 9.3 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sonoma County 27 kmNapa County 31 kmMarin County 39 kmSolano County 64 kmYolo County 73 kmLake County 80 kmSan Francisco County 81 kmContra Costa County 81 kmColusa County 94 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
1:29 am PDT on 15 July 2016 ()
Where
7 km (4 mi) SE of Santa Rosa, CA · earthquakes near Santa Rosa
Magnitude
M 1.7 (md)
Depth
9.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Sonoma County, 27 km WNW
Nearest mapped fault
Bennett Valley fault, 3 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 3521 days ago

A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 7 km (4 mi) SE of Santa Rosa, CA, at 1:29 am PDT on 15 July 2016 (08:29 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Rohnert Park, Cotati, Kenwood, Penngrove, Eldridge, Sebastopol.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 9.3 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 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.3 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

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

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 36 km ESE of this epicentre
  2. 5.3 3 km E of Bloomfield, California · 16 km SW of this epicentre
  3. 5.3 Northern California · 17 km WSW 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 38.3960, -122.6570. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Sonoma County, CA 27 km (17 mi) WNW earthquakes near Sonoma County
Napa County, CA 31 km (19 mi) ENE earthquakes near Napa County
Marin County, CA 39 km (24 mi) SSW earthquakes near Marin County
Solano County, CA 64 km (40 mi) ESE earthquakes near Solano County
Yolo County, CA 73 km (45 mi) ENE earthquakes near Yolo County
Lake County, CA 80 km (49 mi) N earthquakes near Lake County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 8 km W of Cobb, California
  2. 1.6 8 km W of Cobb, California
  3. 1.8 8 km W of Cobb, California
  4. 1.6 5 km SW of Cobb, California
  5. 1.6 Northern California
  6. 1.6 4 km SSW of Cobb, California
  7. 1.9 7 km WSW of Cobb, California
  8. 1.8 6 km WSW of Cobb, California
  9. 2.3 3 km S of Cobb, California
  10. 1.7 4 km WNW of Calistoga, California
  11. 3.0 5 km SSW of Cobb, California
  12. 2.9 3 km SW of American Canyon, California
  13. 3.2 4 km NE of Kenwood, California
  14. 1.9 3 km E of Saint Helena, California
  15. 2.2 3 km E of Saint Helena, 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.