Earthquake near Diablo, 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 10 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Diablo, 3 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.

Likely felt in: Diablo 3 km, intensity II · Blackhawk 3 km, intensity II · Danville 7 km, intensity II · San Ramon 8 km, intensity II · Alamo 9 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 19 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 790,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 560,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 50× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 19 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. 5.8 The 1980 Livermore, California Earthquake · 14 km E of this epicentre Jan 24, 1980
2. 5.7 15 km NE of East Foothills, California · 46 km SSE of this epicentre Mar 31, 1986
3. 5.5 6 km NNE of East Foothills, California · 47 km SSE of this epicentre Oct 31, 2007
4. 5.4 9 km NE of Livermore, California · 22 km ESE of this epicentre Jan 27, 1980
5. 5.1 11 km E of Blackhawk, California · 14 km ESE 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 37.8422, -121.9283. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.8 4 km N of East Foothills, California 03:27 UTC
2. 1.7 0 km SSE of Concord, California 15:52 UTC
3. 1.9 7 km NNE of East Foothills, California 23:24 UTC
4. 2.4 3 km ENE of Vallejo, California 23:10 UTC
5. 1.8 2 km E of Berkeley, California 02:20 UTC
6. 2.6 2 km SSW of Alamo, California 19:45 UTC
7. 1.6 2 km ENE of San Leandro, California 19:13 UTC
8. 1.7 25 km SE of Livermore, California 19:27 UTC
9. 1.7 1 km ENE of Alamo, California 07:22 UTC
10. 1.8 3 km NNW of Castro Valley, California 07:18 UTC
11. 2.1 3 km NNW of Castro Valley, California 04:34 UTC
12. 2.4 6 km NE of East Foothills, California 13:48 UTC
13. 1.8 2 km SSE of North Gate, California 01:03 UTC
14. 1.9 3 km SE of North Gate, California 17:02 UTC
15. 1.6 1 km SW of Blackhawk, California 12:11 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.