Earthquake near Livermore, 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 13 km (8 mi) from the epicentre. In Livermore, 13 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: Mountain House, Tracy, Pleasanton, Byron, Dublin, Discovery Bay.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 12 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 1,300,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 900,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 80× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 42 km SSW of this epicentre Aug 3, 1903
2. 6.2 The 1984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake · 38 km S of this epicentre Apr 24, 1984
3. 5.8 The 1980 Livermore, California Earthquake · 24 km NNW of this epicentre Jan 24, 1980
4. 5.7 15 km NE of East Foothills, California · 20 km SSW of this epicentre Mar 31, 1986
5. 5.5 6 km NNE of East Foothills, California · 27 km SSW of this epicentre Oct 31, 2007

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 37.6515, -121.6260. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 9 km NNE of East Foothills, California 11:33 UTC
2. 2.5 16 km E of Seven Trees, California 14:35 UTC
3. 2.3 16 km E of Seven Trees, California 14:29 UTC
4. 2.1 6 km S of Sunol, California 17:06 UTC
5. 2.2 7 km E of Blackhawk, California 04:34 UTC
6. 1.9 2 km ENE of Diablo, California 09:08 UTC
7. 2.4 8 km NNE of East Foothills, California 05:09 UTC
8. 1.6 1 km NW of Ashland, California 22:58 UTC
9. 1.5 10 km N of Livermore, California 16:39 UTC
10. 2.2 0 km NE of North Gate, California 14:23 UTC
11. 1.7 13 km ENE of East Foothills, California 09:22 UTC
12. 1.8 9 km WSW of Taft Mosswood, California 13:45 UTC
13. 1.9 2 km ESE of San Ramon, California 02:45 UTC
14. 1.8 11 km ESE of East Foothills, California 19:57 UTC
15. 1.5 11 km ESE of East Foothills, California 19:51 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 10:02 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.