Earthquake near Pacheco, CA

A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded in Pacheco, CA, at 3:02 am PDT on 6 October 2016 (10:02 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Vine Hill, Concord, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Contra Costa Centre, Waldon.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,300,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.6 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 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.9 The 1906 San Francisco, California Earthquake · 50 km WSW of this epicentre Apr 18, 1906
2. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 32 km NW of this epicentre Aug 24, 2014
3. 5.8 The 1980 Livermore, California Earthquake · 32 km ESE of this epicentre Jan 24, 1980
4. 5.4 South of Elmira, California · 37 km NNE of this epicentre May 19, 1902
5. 5.4 9 km NE of Livermore, California · 42 km SE of this epicentre Jan 27, 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 37.9953, -122.0732. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.4 3 km ENE of Vallejo, California 23:10 UTC
2. 1.8 2 km E of Berkeley, California 02:20 UTC
3. 2.6 2 km SSW of Alamo, California 19:45 UTC
4. 1.6 2 km ENE of San Leandro, California 19:13 UTC
5. 1.7 1 km ENE of Alamo, California 07:22 UTC
6. 1.8 3 km NNW of Castro Valley, California 07:18 UTC
7. 2.1 3 km NNW of Castro Valley, California 04:34 UTC
8. 1.8 2 km SSE of North Gate, California 01:03 UTC
9. 1.9 3 km SE of North Gate, California 17:02 UTC
10. 2.1 3 km SW of Moskowite Corner, California 01:13 UTC
11. 2.7 6 km WSW of Moskowite Corner, California 22:53 UTC
12. 1.6 1 km SW of Blackhawk, California 12:11 UTC
13. 2.1 0 km SW of Blackhawk, California 08:11 UTC
14. 1.5 1 km SW of Blackhawk, California 07:54 UTC
15. 2.4 2 km SSE of Berkeley, California 02:26 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 03:29 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.