Earthquake near Inverness, CA

A magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 4 km (3 mi) NE of Inverness, CA, at 2:59 am PDT on 18 October 2016 (09:59 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, Woodacre, Petaluma, Novato, Lucas Valley-Marinwood, Penngrove.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 49 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 310,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 220,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 49 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 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 7.9 The 1906 San Francisco, California Earthquake · 48 km SSE of this epicentre Apr 18, 1906
2. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 45 km ENE of this epicentre Aug 24, 2014
3. 5.3 3 km E of Bloomfield, California · 21 km N of this epicentre Oct 2, 1969
4. 5.3 Northern California · 22 km N of this epicentre Oct 2, 1969

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 38.1230, -122.8182. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 9 km ESE of Black Point-Green Point, California 13:11 UTC
2. 2.2 7 km S of Muir Beach, California 14:07 UTC
3. 2.9 7 km SSW of Muir Beach, California 13:36 UTC
4. 2.3 6 km N of Kenwood, California 02:42 UTC
5. 2.7 7 km S of Muir Beach, California 03:00 UTC
6. 1.6 2 km SW of American Canyon, California 06:47 UTC
7. 1.8 10 km WNW of Daly City, California 23:20 UTC
8. 1.7 5 km E of Rohnert Park, California 13:49 UTC
9. 1.6 4 km WSW of Rutherford, California 21:07 UTC
10. 1.6 5 km ENE of Kenwood, California 12:47 UTC
11. 2.4 5 km SW of Oakville, California 05:20 UTC
12. 1.6 7 km WNW of Napa, California 04:08 UTC
13. 2.5 7 km S of Calistoga, California 05:43 UTC
14. 1.6 4 km WSW of Rutherford, California 17:15 UTC
15. 1.6 7 km SW of Napa, California 20:00 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 02:13 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.